Fallout Equestria: Shadow Guard
by Sora Shovesha
Summary: Before the war, before everything went down hill, there was a team set up to do the dirty work that no other pony could do. This team known to few comes back to find their world in ruins and set out to try and rebuild what was lost using the only means they know. These means is death to enemies and friendship to allies. The only problem is can they survive?
1. Chapter 1

Log entry 0015

Clearance code SG00-15C

Clearance Level: Rainbow

Location: Shadow Guard Bunker 1 (20 miles North from Canterlot

User: Captain Silent Shot

Reason: Awakening

This unforgiving land was not always full of death, blood, and violence. This land used to be full of love, happiness, and peace for all of Equestria but now... It has changed for the worse since things went downhill.

Things began to deteriorate between Equestria and the Zebra Empire after the zebra empire sent terrorists into Equestria and the incident at Littlehorn Valley where the civilians were rounded up and killed by the Zebra Empire. This in turn caused Princess Celestia to hold an embargo over the Zebra empire so as to not let them send out any resources that may help their empire grow. This ultimately led up to the Great War.

The beginning of the war was small at first starting with skirmishes before it all went to shit in a barrel thrown in front of a fan. The wonderbolts started off things by saving seventeen ponies from zebra pirates within the territory of the zebra empire. Several Wonderbolts died in the mission causing tension between Equestria and the Zebra Empire. Minor hostilities and trading problems continued for years.

Princess Celestia abdicates in shame, and Princess Luna becomes ruler of Equestria after the incident at Littlehorn Valley. The Zebra Empire soon declared all out war on Equestria with Nightmare Moon now in charge. The elements of Harmony soon took up seats in six ministries to govern Equestria and hold the peace as best they could.

Twilight Sparkle directed the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, designed to research and created new magic for wartime purposes. She also brought her assistant Spike along

Applejack directed the Ministry of Wartime Technology, which acted as a funding hub for countless wartime businesses, and designs new technology and weaponry for the war.

Rarity directed the Ministry of Image, which dealt with the nationwide media, propaganda and image of the Ministries and the war.

Fluttershy directed the Ministry of Peace, which ran all the hospitals and researched new medical breakthroughs, as well as to finding ways to end the war peacefully.

Pinkie Pie directed the Ministry of Morale, initially a mass institute dedicated to keeping up morality amongst Equestria, but quickly became a "Big Brother"-like organization designed to monitor the citizens to find any zebra sympathizers, naysayers and potential threats to morale.

Finally was the best and coolest of the mane six who was in charge of my group and a few others like us. Rainbow Dash directed the Ministry of Awesome, which came across as being utterly useless and was allegedly shut down by Luna. It actually was used as a special projects division, and involved black ops and development of new technologies. Which Led to my group being formed.

Rainbow Dash had made two special groups that were under her command that would help her do black-ops missions. One group was the shadowbolts who were an all Pegasus group that were to be stealthy and quick for missions. The second group was my lot who were know as the Shadow Guard. We were the recon units who went in to help find ways for the shadowbolts to get in, out, and not be seen. We left no survivors who would be able to tell tales of what unfolded by our hooves.

I never figured out how it happened, but Pinkie Pie soon became addicted to Party Time Ment-als which led to her finding and stating things that were kinda screwy but true. She even came up to me before me and my group came to where we hunkered down but that is for later.

Megaspells became some of the new top of the line killing items made by Twilight Sparkle and ultimately led to the end of the war but we still have some history left to discuss.

The Battle of Shattered Hoof Ridge - an attempt at peace talks with zebra diplomats goes wrong, leading to an assassination attempt on Celestia. Big Mac takes a bullet and becomes a war hero but not too long after fell in battle where upon the battle turned for the worse.

Rarity apprehended a zebra assassin and thus stealth buck technology was made. It soon became something that she integrated into my groups suits as well as my own. Rarity tried to also tried creating a soul-empowered armor, but was shot down by Applejack who said it was immoral.

Seeing that things may go sour in the war, Stable-Tec began mass producing stables in different parts of Equestria.

A year after her brother's death, Applejack unveiled the Steel Rangers to the staff of the MoWT, along with the Power Armor. Steelhooves was the first to use and operate this armor.

Not long after Applejack is wounded in an accident in an elevator and A battle occurred over Hoofington that involved a dragon.

Things descended into madness when word got to my group and the others under Rainbow Dash's command where we were sent into our bunkers and activate our cryo-stasis containers.

My group started off with eight of us. I was in charge of my small group who where all experienced soldiers just like myself. We are the best team that Rainbow Dash had set up of all the Shadow Guard. Each of us had a job amongst our group that we carried our but we were all taught to be stealthy by nature so as to never be caught. Our group is composed of two snipers, two melee experts, two technicians, one demolitions expert, and one heavy weapons expert. All of us were trained in stealth, power armor, and power weapons.

The only reason I was leader of the team was because I seemed to have the highest marks in field training and because Rainbow Dash said I was quote "The coolest stallion so far seen in the field". My natural ability with silent killing made me the ultimate soldier to be in charge of my group. I became the best sniper in my field because of my better eyesight and hearing. With my black and white natural coat and mane I was able to easily change a few features to go into the zebra empire to gain information and they be none the wiser.

Before the war I had discovered my calling as an actor that no pony could get close to in acting like. I learned that my skills had made me a good candidate for Shadow Guard when Rainbow Dash recruited me off my set. She made it where any pony thought I died in an accident when the set became a blaze and she got me into her secret group.

Next was Master Sergeant Avery Blade my second in command. She's a grey and white mare with a white mane. She was originally a full blown Pegasus before in one of our missions she got shot out of the sky and almost lost her wings if not for Project Steelpony which helped save her wings and her life. She is the best hoof to hoof fighter I know and she also has sharp blades under her wings that eject out into her hooves so as to fight with. Her gold eyes might set some off her a bit but her natural toned body and fast flight skills make her dangerous in close combat.

After Avery was my best gunner and versatile on the team called Sergeant Blood Spray. Getting Blood Spray into the team wasn't too hard, but it did have its challenges. Being a heavy weapons master made it harder for a pony like him to sneak around but somehow he passed Rainbow Dash's standards and was given a spot on the team. He's a red and white Pegasus which makes it easier for him to carry around his weapons and he said he trained in strength and gun movement, making him a good part of the team when it came to defense, attacks, and sky sneak attacks.

Our loudest member of the team, who wasn't a pony but a dragon, was Sergeant Small Fire. This short dragon with dark red and bright orange scales was found one day, planting mines and creating traps. Rainbow was with us that day and saw potential in her, bringing her back to the base. She had Small Fire show off her skills and definitely wowed Rainbow. Her ability with bombs, grenades, explosives, and traps was definitely something that would come in handy when it came down to sneak attacks and needing to capture something. And with being able to sneak around pretty well, and being small, Rainbow welcomed her to the team.

Our coolest and most prideful member of our team was Corporal Data spark, a griffon. This male griffon with a techy patterned coat and mane of dark grey, lime green, and blue colors, along with his glowing blue eyes, came into the base one day in search for help. Little did we know at the time that he actually just came in to hack our terminals, learn our secrets, and steal our supplies. After catching him hacking into another terminal, Rainbow put him in a cell and examined him and how his mind worked for a few days, and noticed with how he snuck in so well and how he was able to hack those highly protected terminals that it was exactly the last mind they needed to complete the team. He became very handy in keeping good high security, building strong guns and machines, and keeping all the terminals and pip-bucks in check, along with frying other enemy machines and terminals and gathering useful information.

After Data spark was my next best sniper called Sh(=($$,'}'

ERROR Corrupted File Data

Processing...

Continuation commencing

3... 2... 1... start

... Blems occurred to have killed the three of them. Unfortunately we can only bury two of their bodies since the third cryo stasis unit was crushed by a part of our compound breaking apart after these 200 years of sitting on ice. My team is mourning the loss of our comrades and they will be missed but we of the Shadow Guard must put our lives at great risk many times to save many. We will bury them soon and I shall save their tags. I have given orders to my team to wait for instructions as we rest before heading out.

I have seen that the other teams have been awakened as well from what the terminal states but I am unsure if many of them are left standing. Before I put this entry into the terminal I sent out a message to the other Shadow Guard teams to meet up with us at Ponyville since it was a place small yet easy to find for any group of ponies. We would meet their and hopefully find civilized pony life since nothing else could be done at this point and time. If we were lucky we might even find somepony that could assist us by telling us what we would be faced with out in this new and dangerous land of Equestria.

I have checked the terminal for any outstanding chain of command but it seems that EC-1101 has not finished its course. Equestria Command must have sent it out but the worst thing that could have happened to cause it to not go forth would be from one of the stables with one of the Mane Six was destroyed. I hope that EC-1101is still out there and that whomever may hold onto it will get that order through the system and find the leader of our great nation to lead the rebuilding of our nation. I do not know what we will face when going out their but I do know that when I get word from Rainbow Dash or whomever is currently in charge...that we can do our job and rebuild Equestria back to its formal glory.

This is Captain Silent Shot, leader of the Shadow Guard. Death leads to new roads of life, let ours make many brighter roads ahead.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

The wasteland

The terminal begins to shut down as Silent Shot turns around and trots towards his team with a grim but determined look on his muzzle. As he trots away from the terminal his mind goes back to what he knew so far and began to make a plan of action for the future.

He began to make a mental list to himself while he walks towards his team.

1\. Grab all gear in current facility

2\. Check equipment for any problems

3\. Exit facility after setting up explosives

4\. Head to Ponyville after destroying the facility

5\. Meet up with squads: War, Plague, Hunger, Void, and Havoc

6\. Find a good spot and set up an Operations Base

7\. Find Current Leader

8\. Obtain updated orders

He stops as he arrives in front of his locker where his current gear was situated. His horn lights up a light gray in color as the locker is surrounded in it before it opens. Inside was the standard kit for an operative of a Shadow Guard as well as the normal list to state the items inside.

1 Shadow Guard Stealth suit

1 Standard issue 10mm Pistol with silencer

50 rounds 10mm

1 zebra Carbine with silencer

250 rounds 5.56 ammo

1 sniper rifle (modified with silencer, extended clip, 25x sight)

50 rounds 7mm

1 standard issue serrated army knife

5 healing potions

3 standard healing bandages

5 grenades

1 hoof crossbow

20 crossbow bolts

10 days rations

2 water canteens

1 set of saddle bags

Silent Shot then took out all of his items one by one, examining them as he went. As he did this he noticed the small hole that was forming in his stealth suit from snagging it when he wore it last, and that the silencer on the 10mm pistol was a little busted but other than that everything on the list was accounted for and in good shape. Grabbing the gear from his dead comrades and putting a replacement patch onto his suit to allow it to work properly, he put all his gear on and in his saddle bags, making one last check on his pip-buck to make sure all items were accounted for, and headed to search the rest of the building for any useful items. There wasn't too much around, but there was some extra ammo in the other lockers and around the rooms, along with some Sparkle Colas and unused healing potions that would definitely come in handy in a difficult situation. Once the building was fully examined, Silent Shot set out to check his team at the main entrance.

Silent looks at his team who are sitting around eating some old military rations, he sits down beside them and begins his speech.

"Okay team, here is our current situation. We woke up on time and have lost three of our team due to bad cryo units and building structure. We currently are 20 miles North of Canterlot and we have no idea what the outside looks like. We are to reunite with the other squads of Shadow Guard at Ponyville. We currently are all geared up and this location is going to be destroyed afterwards. Along the way, we need to find a good place for an Operations Base and receive new orders from whomever is in charge at the current time." He states as he looks at his group.

They listen and nod to him as he continues the last of his speech, "Check your gear and make sure everything is working. Once we head out stick together and do not go too far from the team. Last but not least, if anything or anyone attacks us, kill them. Keep an eye out and remember our motto."

Everyone states at the same time, "We are Death. Death leads to new roads of life, let ours make many brighter roads ahead."

He smiles as he looks at his team and says, "Now get ready team. Time for us to head out and find our Brothers and Sisters in arms."

They all stomp their hooves and claws as they finish eating and get the last of their gear on before forming up on Silent as he begins to open the blast doors with his pip-buck and putting down the last of the explosives to give their dead teammates and home one last farewell. His team begins to head out as they look at the land that was once their home.

What was once green and happy in color and sound looked so terribly brown and dark. It was almost a terrible reminder of the war long gone that was still fresh to their memories. The sky was covered in dark gray clouds as if it was about to rain. The pegasi had once kept the sky bright and blue but had broken away from their oaths and codes and had sealed it up to leave pony kind below to die. Trees once green and healthy were broken and dead around them. Where once the mighty Capitol of Canterlot stood was now nothing but ruins of its formal glory.

Silent Shot looked to his teammates and nodded, getting a nod back from them, as he looked back at the broken down, dead facility that they used to call home. He took a second but then, using SATS, aimed at the explosives surrounding the front and shot them, causing them to explode and the bigger bombs inside to all go off creating a huge mushroom cloud in the sky. Their base was gone in an instant as debris flew this way and that, setting an occasional old piece of wood on fire. Soon after the explosion, the mushroom cloud faded away, and the team looked to make sure the job was completed and it was definitely done, and done thoroughly as not much but some rubble and sticks were left behind.

"May those three brave soldiers rest in peace," Silent Shot said before signaling for everyone to move out.

Trotting through the hilly country side towards the south west, the group noticed a strange glow around canterlot and a brighter glow towards the north east where Trottingham would be. The country side was quite barren except for a long dead tree or lightly colored patch of water that was like a rainbow. This felt unnerving to the group as Silent looked at his team.

On his left right was Avery with her saddle set up with a bite grip so as to help her fire her twin zebra carbines. Under each of her wings was a pouch of daggers set into her metal wings and a pair of blades that came out of each tip of her wings if let out just right.

Behind Avery was Data Spark with a headset set on top of his feathery head connected to a small bundle off his saddlebags which contained a portable radio. He seemed to like hoof weapons or in his case claw weapons since on his front talons were a set of armored claws that were sharp enough to go through most metals. In his pack was also probably his favorite sword and sledgehammer that he had kept during the war.

Looking to his right he first see Blood Spray whom is wearing his combat visor which had a small targeting spell to help his aim. His saddle was set up with a pair of Miniguns that he somehow was able to carry. Though they may not have been the best to fire with stealth he used them with great accuracy despite their usage. With them mounted and the bite grip in his mouth, he looked tough but he looked downright dangerous with the smile on his face and the canister fed ammo feeds spinning rapidly out into the gun. He had what we could tell was 6 canisters on each side of him almost like extra armor.

Behind him was Small Fire with her standing on her back legs to get a better vantage point from her taller height. Instead of using saddles like us, she had some holsters set up for her by some Diamond Dogs that allowed her to grab and fire her weapons since her claws were more flexible than our hooves or talons. She had a grenade launcher on her left side held down by clips while on her right side was some kind of holster, also made by Diamond Dogs, set up that held a variety of mines, grenades, and certain little gadgets that allowed for specialized traps.

Looking ahead once again, he sees what seems to be a small amount of smoke in the distance past the mountain tops to the south west.

Stopping he points in the direction of the smoke and says, "Looks like there is a sign of life over that way. Anyone know what's over that way?"

Data Spark taps his talon against his pipbuck before answering, "Sir, seems like there is a small town over that way called Follyfields. Should we go that way?"

Silent looks at his team and asks, "Well? What do you think? It's on our way and we might learn a bit more about Equestria of now."

"I believe it is a good idea. There may be civilization over their or ponies in trouble." replies Avery

"It may not be anything at all but ruins like Canterlot. I don't think it's a good idea." states Blood

"Might be full of bad ponies or monsters. I need something to kill and watching blood and limbs fly would really make my day. I say go." motions Small Fire

"I believe we should go. If someone is in trouble, there are bad ponies, or just for any extra supplies. Any reason to go is a good idea." States Data spark wisely.

Silent nods before he taps his hoof on the screen on his pipbuck and says, "We are heading to this point on your pipbucks before we head towards the village. Keep a sharp eye and we will arrive tomorrow at early morning."

They head back out with Silent leading again when they come upon a sight that was quite familiar just over the hill they were on. Before them on the ground was a dead pony but this pony looked even worse than they had ever seen before. The pony looked to have been torn open and the insides eaten by some kind of animal or beast. Looking the body of the pony over, Silent spots something poking out from under the dead body.

Leaning over and using his magic, Silent moves the body to see a set of saddle bags that were covered in blood and torn a little. Pulling the saddle bags out, he opens them up and sees some junk from various things like some string, bottle caps, metal of various shapes, and a set of broken boards. Looking in the other bag he comes upon a few Sparkle Colas, dash, med-x, and a bag of radaway. No weapon seemed to be around so this pony must have dropped it while trying to escape whatever chased it.

Taking the useful items, Silent passes them over to Data to store before they continue on their way. Continuing in a straight line towards their goal around the mountain, they come across some of the horrible sprites that seemed bloated. Using his 10mm pistol and his SATS, he carefully shoots each one they see killing them instantly. The bloatsprites looked terrible and were just as disgusting when they popped like rotten eggs. Keeping away from the dead bodies that fell from each shot, they continue forward while keeping an eye out for anything more dangerous than the bloatsprites.

Trotting along for another hour or so, they arrive halfway to our goal when Silent calls a halt to the group.

"Okay everyone, take a rest and grab a bite to eat. Afterwards we continue our to our destination and sleep in shifts at that destination. I believe there was a cabin there that we can rest at and take shifts." States Silent as he takes a seat on a log and uses his magic to pull out a package of preserved daisies to eat.

As Silent sits there and eats, he begins to look over his group as they dine on their respective foods as they all have a seat on a log, rock, or stump. Avery seemed to be eating a dehydrated stack of hay fries and a preserved tulip sandwich. Small fire was having some very beautiful gems of different varieties, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds were some of them, which as soon as she bit into them turned into a liquid. Blood was having powdered cake, some raisins, and some hay fries as well. Data Spark was having some smoked jerky, a couple of preserved apples, and a box of instant coffee which he let the others have. The coffee wasn't too bad but it helped them get their systems used to the food again after so long a rest of nothing.

As soon as everyone finished the last of their food, they get their gear back on and begin their journey once again. The second part of their trip seemed to be uneventful except for finding something here or there of junk littered around the place. Things like sparkle cola bottles, bottle caps, used ammo, torn clothes, pieces of scrap metal, or tools were just lying about useless as if left their by somepony before them who had to use the item or just dropped it to lighten their load. As the sky got darker above them and the need for light was getting close, they spotted their goal before them, the cabin. Upon seeing the cabin, the group smiled a little at seeing the intact wooden cabin that sat there in the side of the mountain as if waiting for them to come and enter.

Silent took point and led the team to the front of the door which he opened using his magic once again. Slowly he opens the door while pointing his pistol at the inside as if expecting trouble only to find the empty cabin sitting barren of anything like furniture or identity as to who owned it before the war.

Looking about the small cabin, Silent says back to his team, "I'll take first shift, everyone rest up and keep lights out unless need be."

The group spread out in the inside of the room and begin to make places to rest for the night so as to get an early start to the morning. Silent placed his place to rest but stayed equipped with his gear as he went to the window and waited patiently for the time to pass and in hope of no fighting to happen that night. He looks at the broken silencer that was on his pistol and decides to take it off. Using his magic to take off the silencer, he barely twists it off when it falls to pieces and falls to the wooden floor with a clatter onto the wooden floor. He looks sad a little at his trusty silencer falling apart but he knew it would happen from how it was looking before.

Within minutes the team was asleep and Silent sat silent at the window waiting. Minutes passed and soon turned into hours and upon the fourth hour right as shift change was about to start, a light shown in the darkness outside and it was coming closer to the cabin. Silent silently walked over each of his group and woke them up with a nudge before shushing them.

The group gathered around the windows as they prepared their weapons upon seeing the light getting ever closer to them. Silent motions them to get into positions near the entry way as they wait for the light to show whomever was coming towards them. Minutes pass by as they wait and the light finally reaches within talking distance of the group and they hear a gravelly voice speak.

"-old you that there might be somepony at the cabin. I saw hoof prints and this is the only place safe enough to rest." says the gravelly voice.

A new voice responds in a tough stallion like way, "There is nothing worthwhile in the rest point and I see no light. There is nopony there."

"The gravelly voice sighs and says, "Somepony could be there. It might be those Steel Rangers, maybe another trader, could even be a scavenge. You don't know until we arrive."

The voices were almost in sight as Silent says loud enough for them to hear, "Stop where you are and state your business here."

The light stops as the gravelly voice says lowly to the other, "I told you. It's why I am the trader and you are one of the guards."

The gravelly voice than responds, "I am Bottle Pinch. I am a trader looking to seek shelter with my caravan at this cabin. Whom might you be?"

Avery looks at the team, "Shall we let them in or check them first?"

The others look at Silent as he says, "Best to check them first so as to make sure they are no trouble."

Silent than says so Bottle can hear him, "Come closer so I can verify what you say is true. I do not trust ponies I cannot see."

Bottle's guard that was heard before states, "Same goes for us. How do we know you are not raiders or a gang?"

Silent responds, "If we were either of those, you would already be dead since I saw you coming minutes ago and could have killed you then."

Bottle replies, "We will come closer by keep your weapons lowered. We don't want to be shot by you or whomever might be with you."

The light comes into sight range and before the cabin stood five haggard looking individuals that were a sight for the team. The first was what looked like a cow if it had come out wrong from birth. The cow had two heads and had less fur and more skin in sight to the naked eye. Next was an old looking unicorn stallion whom had a brown coat and gray mane that lay flat to his coat. He looked ready to keel over from exhaustion or just the environments injustices. Next was a pair of armored ponies with thick barding like the security teams wore near Canterlot before the war.

The first looked to be a quite young earth pony with a bright yellow coat and teal mane with dirt covering most of the visible yellow and a saddle set up with a pair of shotguns. The other was a black coated unicorn stallion with a red mane and a scar over his right green eye that went down to his jaw. In his jaw was a shotgun and a stern look in his eyes. Last but not least was a mare on top of the cow's back whom looked tired and seemed to be hurt from the bloody bandages on her flank. Her probably once pristine green coat and blue mane was now mated with dirt and dried blood from some kind of fight before.

Silent looks at his team and says, "Stay here and wait in case this is bad. I'll go talk to them."

He opens the door with his magic and walks out into the light as he says, "I am Silent Shot and I would like to know your intentions here."

Bottle, the old pony says, "We wish to seek shelter here so as to get out of the elements and so as to rest for tomorrows travels on our route to Hope."

Silent looks at Bottle and replies, "You may seek shelter here but be warned, any sign of you wishing to harm or threaten me and mine will end in your execution. Are we understood?"

The black unicorn glares at Silent and floats his shotgun out of his mouth as he says, "Your threatening us! I should end you right now you scum."

Silent looks at the unicorn with no concern and says, "You really want to die? My team currently has their guns trained on you. Either keep your mouth shut and rest here or be another bloody corpse where you stand."

The black Unicorn looks ready to attack when Bottle says, "Gleaming, do not anger the well equipped and well mannered Unicorn. I do not wish to have to tell your folks that they did not raise their foal right."

The black Unicorn keeps his jaw shut as he grumbles behind his shotgun that he floated back into his mouth before Silent says to Bottle, "Do come in then with your group and...cow?"

Bottle raises an eyebrow at Silent and asks, "Cow? Do you mean our Brahmin friend? Ya they are quite a friendly bunch even though they argue about their favorite kind of food."

Silent says, "Well come on. My team is waiting for us to go in but I do want to make sure you remember. Do not try to hurt us in any way."

The group of 5 followed Silent Shot into the decently sized cabin, where they immediately took a side, and got the terribly injured green mare off of the Brahmin's back to replace her extremely bloody bandages with new clean and magical ones.

Noticing they weren't using any healing potions and seeing as how badly injured the mare was, Silent Shot walked over to them and offered a healing potion, "This might help heal your friend a little bit faster, if you want to try it that is."

The black unicorn huffed at Silent Shot and turned his head, but the older fellow, named Bottle Pinch, smiled at Silent and took the potion kindly. "Thank you so much youngster, this will really help Sea Breeze."

After Silent Shot headed back to his group, Bottle snorted at the black unicorn and said, "You really should think of others wellbeing more instead of putting your nose up to a kind offer, and Sea Breeze really needs this potion if we want her to heal up."

The unicorn huffed and looked at Sea Breeze while Bottle got her to drink every last drop of the potion. "There there Sea Breeze, with this potion you should be healing up good in no time," Bottle smiled at her as he gave Sea some reassurance that she was going to be just fine.

Silent Shot looked over to the newcomers from over by his squad and smiled knowing they were taking good care of each other.

"Don't get to fond of them Silent, we still don't know if their plotting anything. And I really don't like sir mean and cocky over there, he could get us into some trouble," Small Fire stated, squinting her eyes at the black unicorn.

"We just have to be safe." Silent Shot replied, "And, maybe you could keep an eye on him? I don't really want him wandering outside, if he does we could be in for trouble if anyone, or anything, spots him."

"Sure thing Silent, and I'd be more than happy to blow his head off if he steps out of line." Small Fire smirked.

After about an hour or so of settling into the cabin, the team decided it was time to get a little grub to settle them over for the night. Each of them took out a small amount of food of their own to eat and huddled around a very small fire they had safely started, as to not set the cabin on fire.

Bottle noticed the light and smell of the fire before he walked over to them, "Would you mind if we joined you? It's awful cold over where we took up spot." He asked kindly.

Silent looked over to the other group of ponies and noticed they had brought out some grub of their own to eat. "Yeah sure, we can all eat dinner and discuss the plans for tomorrow." Silent answered with a soft smile.

Bottle walked back over to his group and told them they could all go sit around the fire with the others if they wanted. Everyone but the black unicorn went to join them, being the stubborn stallion he was.

"Thank you so much," Bottle spoke. "Now, I find it only the right thing to do to introduce ourselves. We'll start. I'm Bottle Pinch, the wiser older unicorn of the group. This yellow and teal earth pony with the set of shotguns is Silent Sunset." He gestured to her as she waved at everyone. "The Brahmin are Tom and Jerry, they don't like each other very much and tend to fight off and on. The injured mare with the green coat and blue mane over there is Sea Breeze, and last but not least the grumpy black coated red manned unicorn sitting in the corner over there is Shoot First. I wouldn't mind him much, he doesn't like many folk and can be pretty grouchy," Bottle finished the introduction and gestured to the other group to introduce themselves.

"Oh, um. I'm Silent Shot, this is Avery." He gestured to her, and gesturing to each of the rest of the individuals said, "And this is Small Fire, Data Spark, and Blood Spray." He finished bluntly, not wanting to give them too much information.

Silent nudges Blood and says, "Your turn for guard duty. Wake Avery when four hours goes by."

Blood nods as everyone gets some rest in their spots and sleeps through the night without incident. Upon morning arriving, Silent wakes his team up and wakes up Bottle with his group.

"We are going to be heading out. If you would like some assistance in your travels a bit, we might be able to come along on the trip." states Silent as he looks at Bottle.

"Well, that is mighty kind of you. Might you be able to point out where you are heading on that Pip-buck of yours so I can see if our travels will be together for long?" replies Bottle as he stretches with a few pops to his old spine.

Silent pulls up the map on his Pip-Buck and points to Follyfields and then to Ponyville as he says, "We were going to travel here and then to here. We were checking this place first to maybe find out who might be there or if there was anything to scavenge of food since we are a little low. We than are to meet up with some friendly folk over here at a meeting of sorts."

Bottle looks the map over before saying, "Well this map is quite accurate where the towns are and this will only set back my caravan about...maybe half a day but the extra scavenging could help get me some extra caps."

Silent nods before putting his Pip-buck away and replies, "Well we can guard you on the trip though Shoot is gonna be hard to deal with. It would also be nice to learn some about what we are going to have to deal with on our trip to Follyfields if you would be so kind."

Bottle smiles and says, "Well I would be happy to tell you everything you need to know to survive out here in the wasteland. Let me and my caravan get geared up and lead the way. I'll tell you all you need to know on the way."

Silent smiles happily at this as he turns to his team and says, "Okay team, change of plans. We are going to be having Bottle Pinch and his caravan coming with us. Listen closely to what he tells us about Equestria and its dangers. We are going to need to remember this if we are to survive out here from now on."

As they all exit the cabin and head off towards Follyfields, Bottle Pinch begins telling the group about the wasteland, "Well first thing you got to learn is that not many ponies out here in the wasteland can be trusted. The reason being is because everypony is trying to survive and survival means the best of everything which can only be gotten through trade of bottlecaps. No interruptions!" He states as he notices that Data was gonna talk.

He then continues, "Bottlecaps are the currency around here and can buy you almost everything from food and drinks to buildings and ponies alike. Second is creatures that will naturally attack you when you see them. You have the Cockatrice, Manticores, Hydras, Feral Ghouls, Balefire Phoenixes, Radhogs, Radigators, Radroaches, Bloatsprites, Bloodwings, star-spawns, and floaters. All of them are dangerous and will try to kill you. Now Ghouls are not always feral but ferals will not hesitate to attack and can't speak."

He breathes in and continues, "Next is ponies that might attack you. Raiders are always a number one on that list followed closely by the Steel Rangers. I am not saying all of them will but almost all of them have gone bad over the years and became hostile if you have prewar tech. So I would say avoid them unless they seem friendly otherwise you will die. I noticed on your pip-buck that you have all the original cities on there but your gonna need the map updated in order to not go to a dangerous place."

He coughs a little before saying again, "Most cities have policies which either tell you to leave your weapons or to not attack anypony in town. If you disobey these rules they either kick you out of kill you so try to be careful. Caravans and traders like myself are great ways to find resources you might need or to get rid of unwanted items. We trade caps and usually but not always try to give you a fair deal but try to remember that everypony wants to survive so as to not cause problems."

He thinks for a bit before replying, "Last but not least is to stay away from the big cities, stay FAR away from Hoofington as possible, stay away from any Alicorns you see, and if you ever see a vault dweller you probably found the most trustworthy pony you will ever meet out here. That's about all I got to say but if you want more information just ask and I can tell you why."

Silent asks a question ever now and then on the walk for verification on some of the creatures, ponies, or situations that they might have to deal with in the future while Data gathers as much intelligence so as to update the groups pip-bucks so as to make certain areas are known as dangerous spots. By the time the questions slow down and are almost done, they arrive at their destination of a town.

Follyfields looked like it had seen better days if that could be used as a word. It looked like someone had taken a torch to the place long ago yet the buildings still stood if by strings. The streets were covered in degree and yet not a single skeleton could be seen yet alone any trace of once happy life here in this town.

Looking at his team, Silent says, "Okay everyone, we will be looking for resources and possible life here. We will be going in groups of two so as to have an experienced scavenger along with a soldier together. Avery, you go with Silent Sunset."

Avery salutes as she motions for Silent to follow her towards the west side of the small town as Silent continues, "Data, you get to go with Tom and Jerry since it looks like Sea Breeze is awake and walking now that we are here."

Data nods and smiles at the Brahmin as they head towards the East side of town while talking about something as Silent says, "Small, you get to go with Shoot First. Keep him in line."

She smiles as she follows along an unhappy Shoot who heads to the North part of town as Silent says, "Blood, you go with Sea Breeze and maybe tell her of the current situation while I go with Bottle Pinch here to scavenge ourselves."

Blood nods and begins to talk to Sea Breeze as they go into one of the buildings while Silent heads into the middle of town with Bottle and he asks, "Any idea why this town is like this? Seems a little current yet looks to have happened before."

Bottle responds, "I have heard rumors of this place but no actual facts. Rumor has it that caravans that scavenge this place never come back. Many speculate that ghosts haunt this area or that some kind of new monster eats them leaving no corpses behind. What I do know is that this place is suppose to be a treasure trove worth of caps and items that can be sold for lots of caps. With your group being here to help us, we can split the profit since you are guarding us from any possible dangers."

He then looks at Silent as he asks as he grabs a few caps he spots in some ashes, "Since we are alone now and away from my caravan might I ask, Whom are you and your group? You seem to well trained to be scavengers but you are not wearing Power Armor so you are not Steel Rangers."

Silent stops and asks while grabbing a couple of rounds of ammo grab some dried grass, "If I promise to not tell anypony and we can make a contract for a future endeavor, I can tell you."

Bottle lifts a piece of metal to grab a hold of a can of mentals than replies with a nod, "I can say that sounds quite fair since a contract usually means a good trade route added on or some trade goods to buy or sell."

Silent says to him as he points towards something shiny to the left near a building, "We are the Shadow Guard, a specialized group of soldiers made for stealth operations by Rainbow Dash. We were made into service during the war to do many jobs and on occasion help out the Shadow Bolts. The only thing is that we never truly existed to the public or the other Ministries. Only Rainbow knew about us since she specialized us in our fields of training and our missions. We just came out of Cryo-stasis after 200 years of sleeping and waiting. Our current objective is to meet with the other teams of the Shadow Guard at Ponyville where we can make an Operations Base but we might need certain materials along with information after we make our base of operations."

Bottle nods at this before replying while he grabs a few items that seem to be lying about in the road here and there, "Well I got to say that I have heard stranger things before but this is quite surprising. I would say that the contract would be a good idea but I would need to know where your Operations base would be before we set up the contract. I do know we will part ways after Ponyville but I know a certain Pegasus named Derpy whom might be some help for you to get a hold of me."

Silent looks at Bottle after picking up a hoof full of caps and says, "Derpy? She's still alive after all these years? How?"

Bottle looks at Silent and responds, "She became a ghoul I am afraid to say but she has quite a successful business going around Equestria."

"Well I'll be. After all these years, she is still kicking. She was quite a mare in my younger days. Quite beautiful with her golden eyes and big smile on her face. I wonder if she still remembers me." says Silent with a sigh as he puts a box of Apple Bombs in his saddlebags.

Bottle raises an eyebrow at Silent and asks, "Were you her Coltfriend or something before this happened?"

Silent smiles and says, "Yeah, I was for a while before things went crazy and the war became worse. Eventually I said goodbye to her and left but not before giving her an old gift between us. I wonder if she still has it."

Bottle chuckles and says, "It may not be young but still it is young love. She might be a little worse for looks but she is still happy as best she can be our here in the wasteland."

Silent nods and is about to say something when a loud yell is heard, "No stop!"

A gunshot is than heard and a scream of terror coming from the North side of town. Silent groans and says, "Celestia damn Shoot. I had a feeling something like this would happen but at least Small is with him. We better go check on them."

Silent begins to run towards the North along with Bottle to go help Small and Shoot when they hear a gurgling groan coming from one of the buildings down the road they were heading towards. Out of the building came a very horrible looking kind of pony for Silent to see.

The pony before them might at one point have been a good looking mare with a green coat and yellow mane if not for the fact that half her coat was missing in patches, part of her jaw was missing, one ear was hanging from a string of skin, and there was at least a fraction of intelligence in the cold dead eyes on the face before them. The ghoul before them looked to have been shot before from the pieces of coat and skin missing in little round holes in its hide. It seemed to notice them as it screams an eerie unearthly tone. For a few seconds nothing happened before out of more of the ruins of the town came more shambling and deformed ghouls that looked towards Silent and Bottle.

"Well buck me and call me Rainbow Dash." says Silent as the ghouls begin to run towards them both.

Silent shot got in front of Bottle and told him, "Stay back and maybe be prepared if they go after you while I am busy!"

He got out his 10mm Pistol and got SATS up. "Alright feral ghouls, time to end your existence." He said, as he targeted the ghoul that had first appeared letting one of the targeting spells land on it before going out of SATS, landing a straight on headshot with the first ghoul that had come out.

Having finished the first one, he turns to see there had been four overall and the other three screeched before they ran straight at him and Bottle at an extremely quick run. Silent Shot ended up shooting another one in the chest a few times while using SATS which brought it down with a sickening thud as glowing blood flowed out of it, but the other two jumped at them while Silent was occupied. Bottle used his strength, which was quite feeble in his old age, and sucker punched the one going after him in the face, which caused it to fall back into the ground though not dead. The other ghoul went after Silent Shot and ended up biting him in the leg before Silent could kill it.

"AAAAAGHH!" Silent screamed, feeling the ghoul's teeth dig deep into his leg. "GET OFF!" He finished, shooting it right in the head causing the ghoul to detach and fall on the ground though leaving a few teeth that had pulled out of its skull and leaving them in his leg.

The ghoul that Bottle punched got back up but Silent saw it going towards Bottle a mile away and immediately shot it, killing it instantly as its head seemed to explode into blood, brain matter, and skull fragments.

"Come on, we need to get over to Small Fire and Shoot," Silent spoke, grunting a little at the pain in his left front hoof, as he used his magic to pull out the teeth, that started to bleed pretty badly.

Regardless though, he started to run, with a limp, with Bottle towards the other group and what they witnessed when they arrived was not very pretty. Small Fire was being attacked by a few ghouls and seemed to be able to handle them but, in that time of her distraction, was not able to protect Shoot very easily, who had two ghouls after him.

"Shoot get out of there! Run!" Bottle yelled as loud as his husky voice could while he sprinted towards Shoot.

Shoot looked at the ghouls with rage in his eyes and went up for a punch but was thrown back by the body weight of second of the feral ghouls that launched itself at him and having gotten him face first into the ground. He landed on the ground hard and the ghouls somehow noticing that Shoot was in a position of weakness went at him and started ripping him to pieces with their teeth. He was in agony, screaming out and flailing his hooves trying to stand or just to move enough to get them off him.

"HELP ME! PLEASE! SOMEONE!" He shouted out in fear.

It had all happened in an instant, and by the time Bottle and Silent Shot had finally reached him, Shoot was no more, with the life in his eyes having died as a ghoul ripped open his throat and chewing loudly. Small Fire had just gotten finished with the ghouls on her, and quickly shot down the other two that were previously attacking Shoot. Small Fire, Bottle Pinch, and Silent Shot all walked over to where Shoot once stood alive and saw a shredded corpse that definitely no longer had a life in it.

"Dammit," Bottle said, looking away from the remains. "Sure he was cocky and rude but… He was still part of the group…. Like a part of the family. He was the only one who could ever get on my nerves over all the years I have done this business."

He sat down trying to take in what happened while trying not to let out tears. Small and Silent looked at each other with sad glances and walked over to him as Silent Shot tried comforting words he had used a couple times before.

"I'm sorry for what happened to Shoot," Silent spoke softly, placing his good hoof on Bottle's shoulder. "Let's bury him, say our goodbyes, and continue on our way, okay? Maybe you can say a prayer to Celestia in hopes that in death he might have found peace that didn't exist here for him."

Bottle looked up at him and nodded, standing up shakily either from exhaustion or from horror and grabbing a shovel he saw earlier. The rest of the two groups finally arrived to meet them from their scavenging in a matter of minutes and heard the bad news. It seemed each of them had been attacked as well but had held off quite well with the few they had to take on. Everyone helped with the burial of Shoot and then mostly moved on trying to cope in their own ways with what happened or just not caring. In that time, Silent Shot made sure to wrap his badly bitten hoof well and nice and tightly using the magical bandages to help heal the wound faster. He thought about taking some painkillers but decided to use them when really needed.

"Come on, let's take a rest before we move on from this town," Silent suggested, leading everyone over to a small building that looked somewhat intact unlike the other buildings around them.

They all went inside and took out something small to nibble on to regain some energy. As their brake went by, not many talked, still taking in the events.

Silent Shot whispered to his group, "It's going to be like this a lot isn't it. Constantly running into monsters, getting hurt, even dying." He paused for a second. "We can make it through this hell though, just keep your heads up, and your minds sharp. Remember we are soldiers and have seen horrible situations before and we can do it again."

He shot them a small smile, getting solutes, head nodes, and even other smiles back. After finishing their rest and healing up a little, everyone packed their gear back up and started heading out of the fully scavenged town. Though they came upon the treasure trove of caps and gear that Bottle had talked about amongst piles of dead and decaying corpses from where the ghouls had killed their prey before. Bottle took note of exactly where the trove of items were and made sure to mark it on a hoof written map to come back to later as they turned to leave the concealed entrance to the treasure trove.

"We'll walk for another two hours or so towards Ponyville until it reaches dark and then find some sort of shelter and settle for the night," Silent Shot instructed. "Let's try and keep together as best we can and tomorrow we will part ways with your group Bottle."

The big group found a path, near the house at the edge of town, that seemed to lead them in the direction they wanted and started to follow it to try and avoid any more dangers hidden in the wasteland when they heard maniacal laughter coming from down the path from maybe a dozen or so individuals heading towards them.

Silent motions for everyone to get into hiding as he whispers to Bottle, "Whom might be making that freaky laughter?"

Bottle responds, "It's raiders and the problem is that they must know we are here. The must have been watching us on our way here and that means that they are not going to leave us alone until we are all dead."

Silent nods before motioning for Small to set up traps, Data to prepare his weapons for close combat, and for Blood to take place in a window so as to go at them with his Miniguns.

Silent turns to Bottle and says, "Better prepare for a fight and tell the others to get into position in the house so as to not be seen."

As Bottle nods, Silent looks at the stairs and takes them up to the second story where he unlatches his sniper from his back and setting it ready at the window. As he sits on his hunches and looks through his scope, he sees a group of ponies numbering in at a dozen. Looking them over, one would not think that they were deranged and murderous ponies until you saw the look in their eyes. The look was one of hunger for murder and the thrill of killing something which meant only one thing to Silent.

These ponies had to die and that meant that they would die today. Observing each pony through his scope he notices that they all seemed to wear either scrap pieces of metal or patched up pieces of barding which were looking like shit. The same could be said for their weapons which looked ready to fall apart at a touch of magic.

Silent looks at the one in the lead and fires the shot causing the ponies head to explode into particles of nothingness as the loud resounding shot could be heard in the silent town and the raiders below.

The raiders instantly take action to separate from each other and head off in different directions but to late as fire from three areas converge on them. One position was from Blood who seemed to be humming a tune from Pinky Pie about cupcakes as his Miniguns began to fire rounds at high velocity into three raiders that fell under his fire alone. Another two turned and had run only to get carbine shots from Avery into their heads making them drop like logs instantly.

The third set of shots came from Bottle and his group but their fire didn't kill more than two raiders as well leaving that left the last four to get into cover and fire at Bottle and his group who went behind cover. One of the raiders took out a Dash inhaler and breathed in before running straight towards, surprisingly, Blood with a wooden bat with nails sticking out of it. Blood mows her down under his Miniguns fire leaving no way for her to live.

Another two ran towards where Bottle's crew was as the last one went into the building where Data had gone. Data had probably dealt with him so there was no worries but the same couldn't be said for Bottle and his group.

Silent puts his sniper back and pulls out his pistol as he ran down stairs in hopes of helping Bottle and his caravan with the two that had gotten to them. Arriving at the scene, Silent looks around the corner to see Bottle firing from behind cover to kill one raider who was hiding behind a bathtub while the others were taking a new meaning to stamping the ground on the other raider who looked pretty much dead from the beating they were giving him.

Bottle finally got a lucky shot on the raider causing the raider to fall over almost dead but not enough. The raider used her horn to grab a metal apple off her armor and throws it with her magic towards the caravan away from Bottle.

"Watch out! Grenade!" yells Silent as he fires off some rounds at the still alive raider.

Tom and Jerry see the grenade and quickly shove the others away as they lie down on the grenade. The sight was not pretty if that could be said for what they saw. It was like a horrible scene from a play that nopony wanted to see but was stuck for them to see forever. The Brahmin's jaw was in his throat on one side and his upper lips and teeth were missing. One eye was shut, and the other looked like a star-shaped hole while the other head seemed to disappear in an instant. The eyes looked to be in imaginary pain as the slow intelligence and smile on the face slowly died. The barrel of the Brahmin seemed to almost open as the insides began to fly slowly out as if in slow motion. It looked like some horrible game of doctor gone wrong as the insides began to fly upwards and slowly came back down to land with a sickening plop.

The chest cavity shown bright red as blood dripped from sharp broken bones of once intact ribs but now it looked like somepony had just taken an ice-cream scoop and just dug it all out. The rope holding the items to the back of the once alive Brahmin had broken and spilled the items across the now gore and bloody covered floor.

Silent felt a part of him beginning to die inside at seeing such an intelligent pair of brothers with brains die in front of him. They seemed to know that doing what they did meant that they would die but yet they smiled up at him as he watched them die. He turned with anger towards the still alive raider and yelled as he picked the mare up and began to slowly use his magic to pull her apart in front of him. His rage blocked out everything from his mind, like the yells of his team in panic and Bottle trying to stop him, as the poor mare screamed in pain and suffering as she slowly but surely came apart.

Tendons tore slowly allowing blood to drip and form small rivers down her coat and armor as she struggled in the air. Her eyes were wide as she screamed like a demon trying to survive as the grey light of magic kept pulling until the sight of bones was revealed on her back. With one last scream of rage the magic pulled her apart with a sickening crack before both parts of the now dead raider dropped into the bathtub which began to fill with red water.

Silent stood there for a time before finally turning to see everyone staring at him like some kind of monster.

He says to them in a calm voice, "Let's go. I wish to be gone from this place and never come back."

Everyone nods as they follow him while he heads off down the road.

After the crazy fight between the squad, the caravan, the raiders, and the entire town full of ghouls, the team continued to stay combat ready as they got back to their journey to Ponyville with Bottle and his comrades.

"Oh come one where are all the hard monsters? I need something difficult to kill! Those raiders and ghouls were child's play!" Small Fire exclaimed looking around for some sort of building or town where there might have been something.

"Small Fire we don't want to be looking for any more trouble right now, we all just need to get over to Ponyville to meet back with the other squads of Shadow Guard safely without any more dangerous encounters. I don't think any of us want any more casualties today," Silent Shot explained calmly like the natural born leader he was.

And to go along with that, he wanted to make sure everyone on his team was still present and doing alright so he looked around and went through a check list in his mind.

'Alright, let's see. We've got Avery who is fiddling with her pouch of daggers. Blood Spray is present but seems to be in an entirely other world. Small Fire wasn't too far back and seemed to still be hungrily looking for a good target practice, and last but not least shy brainy Data Spark who seems to be thoroughly enjoying his radio tunes. Everyone's here, and nothing else to worry about. This should be a nice smooth travel.' He thought, looking back ahead to watch where he was going.

All of a sudden a distant music started to play, a music that seemed all too familiar with the entire team.

"Is that a sprite bot?" Bottle asked, looking ahead to see if he could spot it.

Data Spark saw everyone looking around and took off his headset to see what was up, only to have his ears filled with the music from an old distant sprite bot. "Yup it sure is. Gosh those things can be annoying," He commented, putting his headset back on to drown out that awful music.

"Hey Silent Shot can I just shoot it?!" Small Fire excitedly asked, already trying to find where it was so she could blow it up.

"Yeah sure, be my guest," Silent Shot responded, immediately seeing the small dragon race in front to find and shoot the sprite bot that was getting on everyone's nerves.

With a sigh, Silent follows behind Small as they go looking for the sprite bot which was not helping the mood of the group after the death of two of Bottle's caravan. Silent felt a little sorry for Bottle for having to go through this, probably yet again. They soon spot the sprite bot and Small pulls out her pistol so as to shoot the sprite bot only to miss in barely.

The Sprite bot looks at the group and seems to stop in place for a few seconds before the music coming from its speakers stops and out of its speakers comes a familiar voice to Silent.

"Well, I'll be. If it isn't some old friends of mine. I was wondering when you'd join the land of the living if only to find yourself here in the wasteland of the once great nation of ours." spoke the voice.

The others look confused but Silent asks, "You sound familiar yet I cannot place you. Who might you be and how might you know me and my group?"

The sprite bot looks them all over and responds, "I would love to tell you but some are more trustworthy than others. If news of me living came to the land...much could go worse. I would like to speak to you in private young Silent."

Silent looks back at the others before walking forward to follow the sprite bot a good distance away before asking, "Who might you be that knows about me?"

The sprite bot sounds happy as the voice replies, "Why it is the little dragon that you helped out on occasions with certain top secret projects."

Silent's eyes go wide as he says, "It can't be! Spike!"

Shadow Guard Squad - Death

Level up

New Perks added - Bitter Sweet, Post-war Training

Post-war Training - The effects of the war has made many sights easier to deal with but at times a surprise comes along and hits you worse. IF the sight you see is to an Ally, you go into a frenzy to kill the enemy. +50% dmg boost to target enemy

Bitter Sweet - Victor at all costs usually means a high cost. At the death of an ally, the squad gets a boost to dmg of +20% until the end of the encounter


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Ponyville meeting

The Sprite bot responds happily, "Yep. It's been a good 200 years since last we saw each other Silent. I believe the last time we saw each other was when you helped disarm that Megaspells the Zebras had snuck into Canterlot while I was with Twilight meeting with Princess Luna."

Silent looks a little sad and asks, "Can you tell me what happened? We just came out of cryo-stasis and currently know very little except the dangers of the Equestria named the wasteland by the ponies around here."

The Sprite bot sounded a little sad as it says, "Well things went bad real fast. Princess Luna and Celestia are both gone along with the mane six. No ruler is currently in charge and most of the main cities are now to destroyed and full of bad magic for any pony to enter. Most of the Steel Ranger groups have gone from their original codes and are killing ponies just for any pre-war technology. Finally is the fact that most of the stables will not even open up and those that have are almost all dead."

Silent kicks the ground hard as he says, "Shit! This is gonna make it even harder for me and the other Shadow Guards to do our job. We're currently heading to Ponyville to meet up with the other Shadow Guard units so as to locate a good Operations Base to move into later on. Do you know any places around that might work for us?"

The Sprite bot sits silently for a minute or so before responding, "I might know one place in particular and I have updated your Pip-buck with the current place and I also helped update your map."

Silent nods and responds, "Thanks, Spike. Where are you by chance? It might be helpful to know if we might be able to help you if you need assistance."

It responds, "Sorry but I can't tell you Silent. I am currently at a place even you don't know about but I can tell you one thing. You need to keep a close eye out for anything wrong that dealt with Goldenblood. Right before the end of Equestria, Goldenblood found out about you and your groups and sent a coded message out to a few ponies in different Stables. They might have kill orders on you or they might just cause problems along the way."

Silent nods as he replies, "Thanks for the info Spike. You stay safe where ever you are and come by anytime with the Sprite bots to give me any information you find out. It would be good to go out on missions with good Intel since it's almost like we are in the Zebra Empire again."

Spike chuckles a little before replying, "Stay safe Silent. I don't got to many old friends out here anymore and you being around helps out a lot for my old mind. Also just as an extra warning, be careful near Ponyville because there is a large amount of Raiders in that area setting up there."

Silent nods, as the Sprite bot heads off in a random direction, and turns around to head back to the others that are looking at him curiously.

The first one to ask something was Small who asked, "So...can I kill the Sprite bot now?"

He turns to Small and states, "No. An old friend of mine seems to be able to use them and he can assist us with gathering information. I also got bad news for everypony here. It seems Ponyville ruins are full of raiders and slavers at the moment."

Small grumbles a little bit at having her fun taken away from her.

Bottle looks unhappy at this as he replies, "Well seems the town there is gone so no more trading route there."

Silent replies calmly as he says to Bottle, "Actually no. We are meeting up with some friends of ours there so the raiders will probably be dead by the end of our meeting. Good news is that we have a Base of Operations that I can give you. It seems my old friend had no use for it and sent me a link to its location. I'll mark it on your map for when you want to head on over to our area after this travel is done."

Bottle smiles and says, "Less raiders and a new trade route will get me more business. That's pretty good but I might not always be able to help your group. May I give the information to some other traders who can trade with you?"

Silent nods as he replies, "Sure but we will probably have guidelines about the place and we will need them to give a promise to never tell anypony. After all we are not suppose to exist and if we suddenly are recognized by lots of ponies than we become useless in our tactics."

Silent than turns around and says, "Let's get back on schedule. We still got about two to three hours of light and I know of a military bunker not to far that is probably still useable to rest at."

About thirty quite minutes into the walk towards the old military bunker, Silent Shot decided it would be nice to strike up some sort of conversation to make the walk go by faster.

So he brought up some questions that he had been wondering for a while but never had the time to ask them. "So Bottle, earlier you said not to trust an alicorn, but why?" Silent Shot asked as Bottle looked at him to listen to his question.

"Well, the Alicorns nowadays out in the Wasteland are artificial Alicorns, but being an alicorn means you have the horn and magic of a unicorn, the wings and flight of a Pegasus, and the strength of an earth pony. And along with that they can teleport, read minds, and heal radiation. This makes them very dangerous alone, but even more so because they side with the bad folks around these parts or in some cases I hear that they foalnap ponies. You would be a lucky pony to win, or even escape a fight with them alive since they are probably as powerful as Celestia was." Bottle finished, making sure to get the point of Alicorns being the devil across. "You have any more questions in need of answering Silent?"

"Actually, for now, I do have one more. Where would be the safest place in this Wasteland to be?" Silent asked his final question for that point in time.

"I would have to automatically say Friendship City. It's a huge settlement located in the Statue of Friendship off the coast of mainland Manehatten. There you can trade, buy, sell, shelter, and do almost anything. It's also especially great for hearing news. Most folk that can settle down there to get out of the horrors of the Wastes. It's also one of the safest places actually right near the ruins of a large city." Bottle answered as he walked alongside Silent.

"Thank you Bottle, it is definitely good to know these things out here in the Wasteland." He replied, showing Bottle a small smile.

After another hour or so of quite walking, the groups showed up at the old military bunker.

"Alright everyone, we're finally here. This place should be empty but take caution just in case," Silent commanded, trotting over to open the big circular steel door that was hidden in the side of a hill.

He brightened the screen on his pip-buck to brighten things up a bit and looked inside, seeing a large deserted room with rubble and a few old supplies around.

"We'll rest up here for tonight, tomorrow bright and early we will all continue the journey over to Ponyville. The rest of the path there should not be too long but will very much be at least a day's travel." Silent informed as he made sure everyone was there and closed the door to the bunker.

After closing the door to the bunker and lightly sealing it by putting the bar down on the door, he turns around and sets his gear down along with everyone else.

Turning to Small, Blood, and Avery he says, "Okay search for any equipment left behind here in the rooming area. Bottle you and your group can check this main room in the lockers. Data come with me to check the vault in the back. If there is anything here that attacks, kill it without thinking."

Small, Blood, and Avery head off as he and Data head towards the vault in the back. Upon arriving he looks at Data and says, "Okay do your thing and get this open. Inside will probably be some stuff that may come in handy later which will include a list of stuff we might look for later if any are still around."

Data nods as he gets to work by taking the outside of the number lock off and begins to wire his pip-buck to it so as to hack inside. While doing this he asks, "Sir, may I ask a question about something?"

"Go ahead, Data. You usually ask the most important questions." states Silent as he waits for Data to finish.

"What exactly are our goals after we fix Equestria, sir? If we fix Equestria and nowhere else...I might just be the only Griffon left." he states as he backs out of the program and enters back again after failing two of his three attempts to enter.

"Well, we will wait for higher orders before we can actually figure that out. I would say that not only ponies need to be saved but if they attack us they aren't friendly." He states as he sips some water from a canteen.

"I wanted to know because I noticed the other ponies looking at me weird like they had never seen my kind before...do you think any of my kind live?" He asks as he backs out again from another problem in hacking.

"Well...it might just be this area that no Griffons are at. No one will know until we either find another Griffon to ask or find a pony who knows. I do know that with what we find here, we may find a clue to where a couple of Stables or bunkers may be that had Griffons inside." Silent replies as he caps his canteen and puts it away.

"Thanks for the reassurance, sir. We're in." he replies as he disconnects his pip-buck from the vault as it begins to unseal.

"Good. This should hold all the information we need for some of the places we will need to go later after our base of operations is made." he replies as he uses his magic to help open the door faster.

They both look inside to see two racks of weapons across both side walls were still full of good conditioned and stocked weapons. Boxes along the sides were full of ammo, grenades, food, water, and many other items for soldiers from back in the day. In the middle was a large contraption holding a shiny and odd looking set of Power Armor with duel Miniguns and what looked like a tank cannon on its back. In the very back was a shelf full of folders with the words Top Secret across them in bright red and an Unhappy looking Pinky Pie with a bubble saying, "You look inside and are not allowed. I will know."

Silent looks at the Power Armor and says out loud, "Well I'll be darned. Applejack actually was able to make it. I never thought she would be able to."

Data looks at Silent and asks, "What is it? I know it's Power Armor but it looks...a lot different than normal ones do."

Silent smiles and says, "This is an experimental armor made by Applejack near the end when we went in. She wanted to make it in hopes of helping the war more but this armor was suppose to be impossible to make with only one Magic core inside. It would practically need a Megaspell to make it work and if it's complete it must have one inside."

Data's eyes go wide as he says, "This is a very deadly weapon and with it being here...it could work for anyone who found it."

Silent shakes his head and says, "Your wrong actually, because this Power Armor is only useable by a certain bloodline because of the protection spells on it. Applejack made this armor for herself so she could go into battle but since it is here...she must be dead as well as her bloodline. I would take it with us but...it would kill any who touch it that isn't the rightful owner. We can scavenge everything else here but we will have to bury this here after we take everything."

Silent sighs before going around the Power Armor rack and heading to the back as he says, "This is our main reason for coming here. There is a list of every Stable and Military Bunker all across Equestria listed here. There is also a list of Megaspells and their last locations before the Megaspells hit. If they are still there along with most of these locations, we can begin to gather not only more troops in case of battle but we can also begin to reconstruct Equestria using the help of these ponies and weapons. I just hope to Celestia that none of these Megaspells have been found by anyone yet or we may be faced with terrible things in the future."

Data walks beside him and says, "Sir, we have faced many things together and I bet one hundred bottle caps and free drinks for a week that we can face these problems with help from some locales without an issue."

Silent smiles and says, "I will hold you to it and you better make sure the drinks are Wild Pegasus if you find them. Those are the only things that I will drink of alcohol and you know it."

Data chuckles and says, "You better be ready to lose then and have enough caps to buy me some cool gadgets then."

Silent says, "Your on sparky."

After their bet was made, Silent and Data gathered up the racks of well-preserved weapons along with the boxes of ammo, grenades, food, and water. And true to Silent's earlier word, they tore the ground away, dug a huge hole in the ground, and with Silent's unicorn magic, levitated the dangerous power armor into the hole and filled it back up. Making sure they got everything they did a quick check around the secret stash room and shortly exited, closing the vault like door after them. Data and Silent brought the supplies into the rooming area where the rest of the team was searching around for things left by others who had previously been here. They spotted a small pile and laid out the supplies they found next to it.

"There wasn't too much here but we did find some healing potions, pain killers, a few boxes of ammo, and a hideous pile of bones. We're assuming it's pony," Avery reported to Silent as she pointed to each supply in the pile and the lump of bones as she spoke.

Shortly after the report, Bottle and his group came back into the rooming area. They brought back with them a pack of alcohol and a few packs of cigarettes.

"There wasn't too much over there but alcohol and cigarettes are worth some good caps," Bottle spoke as he entered the room with the items.

"Alright it looks like we found a good amount of materials. Let's dispatch a fair amount for everyone," Silent commanded as he started with splitting up the food and water rations, a bit for everyone in both groups.

Next he paired ammo to guns and gave them out with some thought of who would handle which best. Giving the heavier fire arms to Blood, more high tech to Data, the explosive weapons to Small, a quicker stronger gun to Bottle, a melee weapon to himself, and the rest of the pistols and melees to the rest of Bottles group which Bottle thought was only fair, especially since his team didn't use weapons too often. Lastly he gave each group the split amount of the healing potions, pain killers, alcohol, and cigarettes.

"There we go. Good find everyone, we should be set on supplies for a little while. Or at least until we get to Ponyville which is all we need," Silent finished up.

With their new materials and supplies, everyone organized their saddle bags and, those who had them, their pip-bucks, and took out a small amount of their food rations to pull them over for the night. In the morning the rooms were checked once more and they headed out, leaving the bunker in a good condition to return to later on if shelter was needed and they were near.

"We should be about 3 to 4 hours out from Ponyville. We're almost there, keep your heads up." Silent encouraged.

They walked for a little before the yellow and teal earth pony named Silent Sunset started to frantically look around with absolute fear and terror in her eyes as she continued to walk. After doing this more, Silent Shot noticed and looked at her kind of oddly before walking over to Bottle.

"Hey is Silent Sunset okay? She looks like she's seen a zebra or a mega spell go off or something," He softly yet concernedly spoke.

Bottle looked behind him at Silent Sunset who had been looking to her right with horror still plastered onto her face. "Sunset?" Bottle asked concerned. "Sunset what's wrong?" He continued.

Then he saw Silent Sunset point an extremely shaky hoof slowly in the air, pointing straight ahead of her. Bottle squinted his eyes and tried to see what she was looking at and in the far off distance, he spotted it. Now Bottle was the one with fear on his face. What he saw was the one thing he never wanted to ever lay eyes on here in the Wasteland. In the distance was a rather tall pony with a deadly grin on its face. Its body was a green that was similar to the color of the Wasteland sky, with a long mane of crimson red. The other two features that sent shivers up ponies spines and fear into their hearts, was the fact that this pony… had a pair of Pegasus wings, and a unicorn horn… this pony was an alicorn. The most feared creature of the Wastes.

"Run." Bottle spoke sternly. "Run! RUN EVERYBODY RUN LIKE TARTARUS!" He shouted as he started to run, the rest following him in confusion except for Silent Sunset who knew of the unicorn's presence as well.

"IT'S AN ALICORN, FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE RUN!" He shouted one last time as realization hit everyone in the two groups as they sprinted, or for those with wings flew, as hard and fast as they could for Ponyville.

But the alicorn, having a horn, was just able to teleport to catch up with them. At first she teleported right behind them. Taunting them. Like food. Then it teleported next to them. And finally, in front of them. Causing everyone to stop instantly, not wanting to ever cross the path of this horrid creature. The alicorn let out a retched laugh, freezing everyone where they stood. Then in an instant Blood Spray, not thinking before acting, readied his heavy weapons machine gun, and started to rapidly fire at it. Before a single bullet hit the alicorn though, it teleported right behind Blood Spray, causing him to stop in fear. It lifted Blood up in the air with a magic choke hold, and teleported the both of them in front of the groups again.

With its ghastly voice, the unicorn spoke, "Tsk tsk tsk. And WE thought you helpless creatures would know better than to try and attack a alicorn goddess like ourself."

Blood tried to get out of the magical choke hold, but to no avail. So it didn't kill him, the alicorn released its magic hold on his throat, and held him in magic restraints. Holding his hooves together so he was immobile. Silent got pissed yet afraid to see his team member to be taken and treated like that.

"Let him go you dreadful creature! You are holding one of the few Elite soldiers of Equestria and have no right to do so." Silent shouted sternly.

This only brought back the Alicorns laughter. "You really thing WE, a goddess and immortal being will listen to the likes of you?! Hah, fat chance. You shall learn to listen to us!" It shouted as it started to bend Bloods back by pulling his hooves backwards to meet. "Or so help us, your companion will die in an instant!"

Blood screamed as his back was close to being snapped completely in half. Silent stayed quiet as to not piss off the alicorn again so it wouldn't hurt his teammate any further.

"Much better," It spoke again, glaring and smiling savagely at him. "Now, if you will kindly follow me. I must deliver you to a team of my own. Or shall I say, a large group of mine. A huge raider group." It finished up, teleporting behind the groups and taking out a few extremely efficient and dangerous weapons that it aimed at them. "Now get going!" It ordered, as everyone started to walk.

As they moved, Silent Shot constantly formulated plans that he kept throwing out of his mind for one reason only. Because it would get Blood Spray and possible others killed, and he couldn't have that. It didn't take long to get to the camp of raiders, and when they did, the alicorn teleported in front of them.

She still had Blood Spray in a magic grip and held him up before the group before speaking once more. "You all followed our orders, and we will have a small reward for you." It darkly finished off.

The magic grip covered Blood's entire body and it started to pull him apart bit by bit. Silent noticed what was happening as Blood started to scream, and hurriedly went to grab his weapons out to attack when the alicorn it used its magic to hold everyone in place so they had to watch as their teammate and friend was torn apart in front of their eyes, being completely unable to do anything to stop its actions. First blood started to drip down from the sockets of Blood's arms and lets as in an instant they were ripped completely off all at once, resulting in a harsh loud scream from him.

Blood poured from the places his limbs once were, causing a slow painful death as Blood ironically, slowly lost his own blood. The alicorn kept going though, and in a matter of minutes, his torso was ripped completely in half, breaking his spine in the process which ultimately killed him. Silent Shot and everyone else felt lifeless, empty, and full of guilt as they were forced to watch the massacre of their beloved teammate play out before them.

Silent and the others of his team scream in anger as their weapons aim towards the Alicorn. The Alicorn seeing enough firepower that could do damage from the high impact magic zebra weapons decided to get out of there and leave the ponies to fight. With a crack of light and smoke, the Alicorn disappeared leaving the raiders to face a very unhappy squad of warrior ponies.

(Perk activated Bitter Sweet)

Silent aims his Sniper rifle, Carbine, and Pistol in his magic at the nearest raiders to him and lets loose a barrage of death. One raider unlucky enough to get hit by the sniper instantly turns to ash by the magic blast as another Diving for cover flies backwards to hit a wall of a burned building from a three round burst from the carbine. Between a group of three raider ponies ducking behind cover, one of them never rises from the 10mm pistol bullet in its head.

Avery dived from the sky as her wings open up and she flies by at head level letting her swords come from her wings. Ponies unlucky enough not to see her flying towards them don't even realize how they die as their heads fly or fall from the stumps of their cut necks. Those who duck rise up again only to have knives hitting them in the face or heart. One pony screams as they try to take the knives out of their gouged eyes. Blood seeps from them as they stumble around screaming for help from the dead around her.

Small screams in fury as she lets out fire from her muzzle at the raiders next to her. They scream as the ungodly Blue flames seem to not go out even as they roll to try and put them out. The metal of their armor begins to melt into their coat as the flames cook them alive slowly. Those not close enough for the fire, she aims with her grenade launcher and fires off a few rounds. The grenades don't explode but let out a pinkish gas that begins to melt the raiders slowly as they scream trying to get out of the pink death mist. One raider gets out as her legs fall off of her leaving her stuck lying in place until one of her fellow raiders steps on her making her explode into pink mist and gore.

Data growls unhappily as he has dived into a group of raiders with a sledge hammer in claw before activating a rocket on it sending each raider pony flying hard into buildings to the point where they splatter on impact. Data then dives into cover after throwing a metal box out which opens into a turret which opens fire onto raiders behind some cover. The raiders die instantly from the magic bullets that go through the cover like it was butter. Data than fires off a small round device from his claw machine that lets out a cloud of small metals. The raiders are confused at first before they scream as one raider blows up from inside out. The others try to run but to late as they die the same way while escaping.

Bottle and the others get to cover as they try to fight but are a little scared of what they see of this group of ponies that they had travelled with. Bottle than has a horrible thought, 'If this is what a group of six can do...what would one hundred of them do!"

He shivers but ducks down as the raiders begin to attack back even though not as effectively. Through the five ponies of Squad Death fight without a care in the world while killing raiders, the raiders outnumber them about thirty to one in numbers. Silent groans in pain a s he receives a bullet to his flank as he turns to fire at another group of raiders.

Bottle is concerned as he says, "Silent! We are outnumbered and have nowhere to run. We need to make a defensive fortified area!"

Silent seems not to listen as he yells in anger more while his team echo in unison. Bottle looks at these ponies turned Berserkers fighting even with the wounds each have. As the fight looks to be turning for the worse something incredible happens that Bottle would have not believed, a miracle occurred.

From behind the hoard of raiders attacking them came a roar of anger as some of the raiders before them seem to vaporize from explosions, gunfire, and clouds of gas. The raiders turn to this new threat to see more ponies dressed the same as Silent and his team charging towards them. Being attacked on two sides, the raiders decide they had enough and begin to try and flee as best they can. Unfortunately they were to late as they soon became surrounded and fall under the fire of the full force of the Shadow Guard.

As the last raider tries to crawl away with two hooves missing, Silent walks up and puts a bullet through the back of his skull. Silent turns and says to the new group of ponies, "Hello my comrades. It has been a bit since last I saw you all."

A pony comes forward and says, "Well Silent, it's been one long Tartarus ride since we all woke up. We saw what happened and that just confirms Tartarus came to Equestria since we slept."

The pony standing there was a blue and green Earth pony with a pair of rocket launchers on his saddle bags.

Silent smiles sadly and says, "All to true Zap. It's also what we got to fix if we get the chance."

Another pony came forward and says, "Zap has been having trouble since he saw how the family Apple farm looked. He hated how bad it looked."

The pony in question looked to be a bright pink and yellow Pegasus with a set of grenades going across her sides and two pistols strapped to her hooves.

Silent nods and says, "I know the feeling all too well, Bubble. Bet you wish you had stayed making candy instead of doing this."

Another pony steps up and replies, "Well Bubble could never stay in one place long so I doubt that would have worked."

This pony was a neon green and black manned unicorn stallion with a bunch of sharp swords and throwing knives strapped to him.

Silent nods and says, "Kinda why we all got into this Nova. We all couldn't stand watching things get this bad but here we are."

Two identical mares step up and say at the same time, "You know us all too well Silent, it's kinda why you are the best to lead us all when we are together."

Both unicorn mares where white with orange manes but they had different gear. The left one had a set of power hooves on all her hooves as well as a power hammer on her back. The other had a lot of pistols all across her back and sides.

Silent nods sadly as he says, "Well that didn't help Blood or others near us did it, Hope and Faith?"

They all look at the blood pieces that was once Blood Spray before they nod and bow a little as Silent walked up to the body and took the tags as he says, " We are Death. Death leads to new roads of life, let ours make many brighter roads ahead. You have made a brighter road ahead for all of us so now sleep with your family with Celestia."

All of the Shadow Guard than say, "Sleep with Celestia in peace."

Bottle and his group watch this with varied expressions as they stay silent. Bottle seems to feel like this was a private matter that was only for these warriors before him. Silent was quite the opposite in her wanting to go over and join them. She had some kind of feeling in her that told her to go join them and stay near them to change the world. Sea Breeze felt like she was watching something that would change the world like this was a turning point where things going to either get better or worse because of these ponies.

After their moment of silence, the leaders of each Shadow Guard group got together and started to discuss their next move of action.

"Now that we rid most of Ponyville of the raiders, I think we should claim it for the Shadow Guard and the nice folk of the Wasteland until we leave for our Operations Base. I will be giving each of you the coordinates before we leave in case we have to split up," Silent spoke his idea, having the leaders of the other groups nod in response.

"You're probably the best leader out of all of us, give us your instructions to do just that Silent Shot," Zap Apple said with a small smile, knowing Silent would know exactly what to do.

"Alright, leader of group War, Zap Apple, scope the perimeter and make sure there is nothing with a beating heart or a conscious that might be of danger to us, and if there is, take care of it." Zap Apple nodded, going back to their group and giving them the same instructions before they split out to followed orders.

Silent continued, "Leader of group Hunger, Nova Super, find and collect as much food, medicine, alcohol, and drugs as is lying around here but be careful of traps like mines or other things."

Nova Super nodded, giving the instructions to their group and grabbing saddle bags to hold the items before going out to scavenge. "Leader of group Plague, Bubble Gum, collect any and all ammo, weapons, explosives, and armor that are in this town and from the dead raiders." Bubble Gum nodded before going back to their group, giving orders, and splitting up to scavenge for everything ordered to.

Silent Shot thought for a moment before speaking again, "Leader of group Havoc, Faith Burst, secure the perimeter and set up wooden makeshift barriers with post towers so we can put up guards to watch for dangers." Faith Burst nodded, trotted over to their group, giving out the orders, and gathering the materials needed before heading out to secure the perimeter.

"And leader of group Void, Hope Burst, set up camp in the biggest most put together building around here so we have a place to put our supplies and so we're not out in the open when we're sleeping or taking breaks." Silent finished, watching Hope Burst nod before heading back to the last group waiting for orders to instruct them and be off on their job.

He then walked back to his group who were checking their items. "Alright guys, we have the first shift of lookout. Make sure the only things that get in here, are other, non-harmful fellows, like the group that joined us earlier on. Otherwise, if it is something that will do any sort of harm, kill it. There will be a big wall around the town with posts for the lookouts to use, make sure not to leave those posts and keep a sharp eye until your shift is up." Silent instructed, earning yes sir's and nods before they headed out to the posts.

Right before Silent went out to find an empty post to use, Silent Sunset walked up to him, previously deciding she wanted to join the team and help change the Wasteland for the better. "Silent Shot, sir," She spoke trying to get his attention and succeeding when he turned around to look at her.

"Yes Sunset?" He asked.

"I was hoping to see if I may join your group and follow with you, to change the Wasteland for the better, and help your group and your cause." Sunset spoke, trying to not sound as nervous as she was and instead try to sound strong and sturdy to show she can handle things and that she wouldn't be extra meat weighing them down.

Silent Shot was oddly impressed, not taking her to be the type who wanted a fight. "Well, if you were accepted onto team Death, what would you do to help and not be just some deadweight?" Silent asked.

"Well, I have a keen eye for spotting out mines and hidden items, and I'm pretty handy with my pistols and melee. And along with that, I'm known for being sneaky since over time I have learned how to fly, act, and move silent, making it easy to perform sneak attacks," Silent Sunset listed off, hoping that was enough to seem worthy.

"Those are quite some nice traits you have," Silent got into a small thought and continued. "Well, how about this. If you can do lookout with the rest of my team, and do it well. That means, kill anything that would cause harm or do any danger, and only, and I mean only, let in folk that in no way shape or form would be any danger to us. Think you can handle that?" He finished, waiting for a response.

"Sir yes sir! I won't let you down!" Silent Sunset exclaimed, trying to hold in her excitement but not succeeding very well. She then set out for a post at the wall to be on lookout from.

Silent shakes his head as he says to himself, "Ponies in this age must think we are some kind of supermare group or like an improved version or the Steel Rangers. I just hope she lives through all this cause she might be a good fighter and a reason this wasteland of a home can become great again."

Silent shakes his head to clear those thoughts and says, "Data, I need you right quick before we go on guard duty."

Data flaps his wings and lands beside Silent before asking, "Sir? What might you need?"

Silent replies as he shows his pip-buck and says, "First chance we get after we are all done with this town, we are heading to this location. Do you have any Intel on the area and what this place is?"

Data looks at it before checking it against his archive of information before stating, "It's one of the four places where they made a Ministry Mare Emergency Bunker. Probably hasn't been opened because it is well hidden and because it needs authorization of your degree or higher sir."

Silent nods and says, "After the others come back from their trips and have everything gathered, we will be heading there post haste. We need a reliable place to Bunker down and guard without problems and that place might be our best chance. What might they have their as defenses?"

Data thinks for a bit before saying, "Well...I would probably say mines, some turrets, some robots that may be anything, and probably laser grids. Some of those I can handle but the mines and robots I got nothing for. I would suggest trying Zap Apple to try his blood code for the robots but the mines I got nothing for."

Silent smiles and says, "Sunset will be joining us and she has good experience with mines. She will be most handy for that then. Do we have any idea of the internal structure?"

Data shakes his head as he states, "Only Ministry Mares were able to go in and that means that Zap Apple can get us in. The problem is hacking the terminals inside. They will probably all be very high on security and will cause the defenses to attack if we fail them."

Silent thinks a bit before he says, "Doesn't Bubble have a batpony that was a hacker before she got recruited?"

Data nods and says, "She does...I believe her name was Black Berry. She was supposedly the cause for the Megaspells from activating in the Zebra nations and was killed on record but joined up with us."

"Perfect! So we are going to need them to come with us when we head inside. The others will guard the outside until we are done so that we can seal the outside afterwards. I do know that there will be a map in there with locations of all of the secret projects that may still be around as well as a list of any Stables where members of the Ministry Mares were placed." Silent states as he smiles.

"Good idea sir. I better get back in case we are attacked before we head off." states Data as he turns and leaves.

Silent walks over to a carousel looking place and smiles a little as he goes to an open window and jumps through. Upon landing, he looks around and the destroyed shop that once was a beautiful store for clothes. The clothes where in a pile and looked to be rotting in a corner where they were neglected for years. He heads for the stairs and climbs up them before turning the corner and entering a filly's room.

He sits down at the broken window as he says to himself, "I wish none of this ever happened. Rarity, Sweetie Bell, Blood Spray, Scootaloo, and even Appleblossom...I miss them all so much. It was always so nice around here during the Summer where I could run around with the others as we searched for our cutie marks. Even the Apple Family Reunions were great with all those great desserts that me and the others would sneak off with while the Apple family was not looking. We got in so much trouble back then."

Behind him was the sound of hooves as Bottle says, "What became of those days of such joy for pony kind? None of us even remember what caused such a time of joy to disappear."

Silent sighs before he says, " The wonderbolts saved seventeen ponies from zebra pirates within the territory of the zebra empire but was seen as a bad thing by the Zebra empire at the time. Several Wonderbolts died in the mission causing tension between Equestria and the Zebra Empire and minor hostilities and trading problems continued for years. Things deteriorated between Equestria and the Zebra Empire after the zebra empire sent terrorists into Equestria and the incident at Littlehorn Valley where the civilians were rounded up and killed by the Zebra Empire."

He looks sad before continuing, "Princess Celestia abdicates in shame, and Princess Luna becomes ruler of Equestria after the incident at Littlehorn Valley. The Zebra Empire soon declared all out war on Equestria with Nightmare Moon now in charge. The elements of Harmony soon took up seats in six ministries to govern Equestria and hold the peace as best they could. As you know Megaspells were soon created and things just went even more downhill from there. The ministry Mares soon became worse during their offices and before long...let's just say that my group had a lot of work cut out for us."

He motions with his hoof out the window as he says, "As you know, this came to be right after my groups went into stasis. We were ordered to go in by Ministry Mare Rainbow Dash because of something Pinkie Pie told her. We got into our bunkers and slept for the last 200 years waiting to come back out. Being the only remnants of our old nation, it is our job to help rebuild everything we have left here and make this wasteland into a proper and happy place again."

Bottle looks at silent and asks, "How will you do that? There are dangers everywhere out here and it will stay that way until somepony can fix everything at once."

Silent turns to Bottle and replies, "I do not know yet but what I do know is that we must find the known and lawful relatives of the Ministry Mares and get orders from them. The currently are the only ones who can help us fix everything and restore order to this chaos. Our nation is on the brink of death and we must stop it even at the cost of everything we have. It is our mission and we must complete it at all costs so that ponykind can live again like we once were."

Bottle nods a little and says, "Me and what's left of my caravan are heading out now. I thank you and yours for the help and we will meet again at that base of yours that you marked for me. I just hope that next we meet...nopony has to die and that you have found a way to fix all this."

Silent pats Bottle on the back with a hoof and replies, "No problem Bottle and remember that you and anyone like you is welcome to see us at our place. If you can get information of any kind from across the Wasteland please get it to us so we might be able to help others."

Bottle smiled at Silent before he left the building to gather the rest of his group together. He and his group said some goodbyes to Silent Sunset before heading off back into the untamed wastes. Silent Shot watched them leave through the broken window in the room atop Carousel Boutique. Silent soon left the building to check on how things were going and it seemed, by news of the leaders of the other teams, that it was all good. No threats or monsters were inside the temporary barriers that were put around Ponyville. A good amount of food, water, medicine, alcohol, and drugs were found throughout the town, along with weapons, ammo, explosives and armor.

The guards hadn't seen much dangers close by outside the barrier, and a small section of the town had been set up as a temporary camp where the newly found supplies were taken to and where some rested. It had been hours since Silent had his team go up for lookout at the posts by the barrier, so he gathered them, including Silent Sunset who had done a fantastic job, and had the lookouts replaced with team Void's troops.

"There wasn't nearly enough stuff for me to kill, that lookout shift was booorrinnggg," Small Fire complained.

On the other hoof though, Silent Sunset was as happy as could be when she got the news saying she was able to join with Silent and the rest of team Death. The group took rest at the camp set up and slept until morning. Once that time came, Silent got the leaders grouped back up together.

"Alright, we need to take down the temporary barriers and camp, it's time to start heading over to the Ministry Mare Emergency Bunker. The route there shouldn't be too long, but we should leave as soon as everything we found is gathered up and once everything is taken down. Let's get to work," Silent Shot commanded.

The squad leaders informed their groups and they all split jobs. Some gathering certain materials, some taking down the temporary barrier, and some helping to take down the camp. After about an hour or so everything was down and gathered up, and the squads headed out. Silent stayed in the front of everyone along with Data Spark since they had the route to get there.

"Finally, we can have a base to come back to that is safe and hidden away from the rest of the Wasteland," Silent said more to himself than anyone else, happy that at least something was better for them now.

Silent pulls up his map on his Pip-buck as he calls the leaders of each team over before saying, "Here are the exact coordinates where we will meet up in case we are separated by any opposing force."

They all nod slowly as they mark the spot on the map as a point of interest so they do not lose track of where they are going as Silent says, "Okay everyone, get to your groups and let's get to our new home base."

He gets with his group as he gets them all into position letting Small Fire deal with the basic training on Silent Sunset as they begin to move out. With his team leading the way, the other groups slowly begin to make a square like formation behind them with everyone keeping an eye out in their direction.

A feeling deep inside welled up to the surface as his mind began to doubt his own plans, "What if I fail my comrades and we all die for this mission...I already lost four of my crew and I do not know if we will be able to find any more who might join our cause."

He sighs as he keeps trotting along before looking ahead and he says to himself, "I need to just hold off until we get there and then I can worry. After all I am the only one who can lead these soldiers until we can get orders from higher up...but when will we get these orders...when."

Shadow Guard Squad - Death

Level up

New Perks added - Old Friends, All together, War Buddies

Old Friends = Having friends from the days of old helps but they also like you more. Anytime you head into an area with a friend from your old days you get an Intel bonus and extra scouting for enemy locations.

All Together - With all squads together comes with good command skills, + 2 ranks in combat skills when all units are fighting together.

War Buddies - Having faced war together with these others, you get a +50% bonus to dmg when working together with them in combat.

Shadow Guard Squad - War, Plague, Hunger, Void, and Havoc

Level up

New Perks added - War Buddies, All together

War Buddies - Having faced war together with these others, you get a +50% bonus to dmg when working together with them in combat.

All Together - With all squads together comes with good command skills, + 2 ranks in combat skills when all units are fighting together.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Base of Operations

Silent shot sighs as he dreads this long walk on flat even ground towards the Ministry Mare bunker that they were heading to. This was the easiest way to get shot let alone fall into a trap if they were in Zebra territory and nopony could trust after so long of war. Silent knows his group and the other squads were in position if such a thing were to happen but he worried none the less because they had no backup, let alone any form of support.

Silent is about ready to give the order for a break when he sees a set of trenches that are in the side of some hills to the north of them. Thinking quickly he says over her back to his team and the others, "We're gonna rest near the trenches to the North. It should allow us a rest and possibly a grab on extra ammunitions in the area there. Everyone spread out and search the trenches but be weary of traps or anything that will attack."

He turns to Sunset and says, "You will be with me on first watch. I will tell you what you need to know to do your job right as one of us and I may be able to give you one of our extra suits if everything works out and you are able to do good with the job."

Sunset follows Silent as the other members of the Shadow Guard begin to head out into the trenches and search. Sunset and Silent sit down on their hindquarters on the remains of a zebra tank to look about.

Sunset being quite curious asks Silent, "Umm...sir? I mean Silent...could you tell me more about yourself and your group. I only know about the wasteland and have no idea about what it was like before all this came to be."

Silent looks at her and says, "You sure you wish to hear about the Wasteland when it was still called Equestria and this group of killers?"

Sunset nods her head slowly as if unsure if she really did by the dead expression he had on his face. Silent sighs and taps the part of the tank next to him as an indicator for her to sit beside him while he talked.

He breathes in slowly once she sits beside him and says, "The land of Equestria was a very beautiful and green place before war came and took it from us. Equestria was the land in which we ponies lived in harmony and happily for many a year under the rule of Princess Celestia. Things began to turn dark by major disasters that occurred every month of so it seemed starting with the return of Nightmare Moon. She would have made every day eternal night if she had won if it were not for the Mane Six as they were called at the time."

Sunset speaks up and asks, "Who are these Mane Six? Were they a form of soldiers or guards?"

Silent shakes his head as he replies, "No. They were each simple mares who were going about their daily lives until this event. They came together and through the power of friendship and a special weapon called the Elements of Harmony were able to banish Nightmare Moon and return our second Princess named Luna."

"You mean Princess Luna was not here to help Princess Celestia before then?" asks Sunset in shock.

Silent says with a small smile, "Princess Luna had been processed by Nightmare Moon and had been on the moon for 1000 years during her banishment before she returned that fateful day that soon led to other problems. The Mane Six were celebrities after that and lived in that town we left called Ponyville."

Her eyes sparkle as she asks, "Who were they?"

He smiles and says, "Why they were none other than our Ministry Mares during the war. Twilight Sparkle the element of magic, Applejack the element of honesty, Pinkie Pie the element of Laughter, Rarity the element of Generosity, Rainbow Dash the element of Loyalty, and Fluttershy the element of Kindness."

She gasps and looks shocked at such a thing being possible about the now named Ministry Disasters by some of the wastelanders. She than says, "But how could they be all that when they caused all this."

He puts a hoof up to quite her and replies, "At the time they had no reason to kill anypony and knew not of what war was. They were simple ponies who just lived happily at the time. Now after that incident with Nightmare Moon came the attack of Discord. Discord started to make the world unbalanced and ruined with his chaos which he just let loose."

She tilts her head and asks, "Who's Discord. I don't know anything about him."

Silent coughs into his hoof and says, "Discord is a god of Chaos who can't be killed but at the same time hates it when things go bad that he doesn't cause. Discord was a statue after being defeated by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna only to break loose after Luna came back. He caused problems but was finally dealt with by the Mane Six and began to live with Fluttershy for a while until the war happened and he mysteriously disappeared."

He breathes in as he continues since Sunset is silent, "After the Discord incident was the attack at Canterlot during a wedding between Princess Cadence and Twilights brother named Shining Armor. The attack was by the Changeling Queen called Queen Chrysalis. She was doing it to be able to take all the love from the ponies and to rule over Equestria."

He looks ready to continue when Sunset questions, "What is a changeling?"

He facehooves and hates this as he says, "A changeling is a being who takes love from others like ourselves and eats it as food. They can change into any manner of pony and uses that to steal love."

She looks a little scared but says nothing as he continues, "After that incident at the wedding, the next occurrence was in the Crystal Kingdom caused by a monster named King Sombra. His actions alone caused many ponies deaths and distrust for a long time. The problem occurred and was soon solved when the crystal heart was put on its pedestal thus killing Sombra. It was put on there by S..."

"I bet it was the Mane Six wasn't it! They must have know." says Sunset happily as she claps her hooves as if excited.

Silent sighs and says, "If you had let me speak I would have told you that it was not the Mane Six but Princess Twilight's assistant, Spike."

Sunset looks confused and asks, "Who in Tartarus is Spike and what kinda name is that for a pony?"

Silent facehooves again and says, "Spike was at the time a baby dragon who helped deliver messages and support Princess Twilight. He at the time was the hero and even got his own statue for it at the time."

He breathes in and out before taking a sip of his canteen and continues, "Now after that incent was the attack of a monster that was the worst to face yet. He was something that could hurt even the basic pony by being around because he fed off of magic itself. He faced off against the Mane Six and...he won."

She gasps and asks, "He won? But if that were so than how were the Ministry Mares in charge during the war?"

He is a little unhappy now at the amount of interruptions he was getting as he says, "They lost the first time but the y found a chest with hidden magic that defeated him the second time around. I hear that they became Alicorns at the same time with this power but nopony knows for sure if it's true. That day though a Castle Appeared in the middle of Ponyville that was Princess Twilights. After a while things were just minor in incidents like a hydra attack or maybe even a small Diamond Dog stealing ponies but they all ended quite well until the incident."

She sits listening with ears perked as he says, "A group of ponies were out sailing through the waters near the Zebra Empire when they were taken hostage by a radical group of Zebras at the time. The Zebras told us not to do anything and to let them take care of it but we did anyways. The Wonderbolts were sent over and were able to rescue the hostages but not without casualties and unhappiness with the Zebras. The Zebras got angry at us and one thing led to another before the Zebra Terrorist attack at Littlehorn Valley were the first use of the Pinkcloud was used...the pictures I saw alone at the time were horrible."

He shivers and looks away before saying, "Soon an all out war came into effect and the Ministries were started up and as you know...the rest is now history of today."

She nods and is about to ask something again when Data calls out, "Silent, we're all done checking and got some stashes of ammo, caps, and a couple of intact weapons of the Zebras. Shall we head out?"

Silent stands and stretches his limbs as he says, "Sure thing, let's get going before something appears and we have to deal with more shit today."

They began to trot along in formation once again in silence as the dead land around them told them of what was out there by the various gunshots that can be heard from a distance as well as the various sounds of creatures letting out their calls as if to tell everypony of their prescience. Silent began to see that the sky was darkening and decided that before they could not see anymore that they needed to find a place to sleep for the night before anything could occur.

Silent kept walking with his groups when he spotted a lone house that looked to be partially intact in the distance at the edge of a hill. Turning to look behind him, he says, "Everyone, we're gonna bunker down at that place on the next hill for the night. I will be on first watch along with Data, everyone else will get some rest for the night."

They seem to know this and nod as they follow along to the broken remains of what must have been a very beautiful barn house. The land around it didn't even have remains of even a set of crops, let alone a fence post left. This place must have been through much weather to have almost no signs that it was once a barn if you didn't know what a barn looked like.

Silent looks at Zap Apple and asks, "Hey Zap, Is this one of your family farms? Can never tell since there were so many Apples out there in Equestria."

Zap nods and said, "This was Fried Apple's farm. She made the best cooked apples with caramel coating. I wonder if she made it into one of the bunkers before the Megaspells hit."

Silent nods and says, "You must be at least happy that the Apple line is so big because that means your family line has the best chance of living on over any of the other family's out here. I was an only filly myself in my family. My family was usually Rangers, Guards, or Soldiers throughout history. I am the last of my line."

Zap smiles and says, "That's true. I bet some of the other Apples out there are gonna act just like my family. There ain't a way an apple ain't gonna be an apple."

Silent smiles as they arrive at the house and says, "Well get some rest Zap and maybe see if you can find any clue if Fried got out in time or not. I doubt anypony has been this far away from anyplace import before. There must be clues my friend."

Zap nods as he enters after everyone else had except Sunset who goes up to Silent and asks, "What can you tell me about everypony here? They all seem so different and at the same time the same."

Silent sits down at the edge of the door as he states, "Well I don't know much about the other groups except their leaders. Zap Apple joined the war like most of his family cause they have a lot of honor that runs in his family. After the death of Big Mac, Zap began to get very...up close and personnel in torture sessions with zebras he captured. Bubble Gum was actually a candy maker before the war and was a cousin of Pinkie Pie, though a very distance cousin. When the war came and ponies seemed to be needing help during the war, she joined at the drop of a hat and became very scary with her throwing skills. I once saw her toss a grenade hard enough that she got it into a barrel of a zebra tank over a hill which makes me think she does have more Pinkie in her than she wants to admit."

He looks behind him and continues, "Super Nova was originally a Teacher of Magical Theory and was about to start on a project to create what he calls Plasma. Supposedly it was hot enough to burn water at a touch but he was unable to do the project do to the war. Using his skills he did in sharp weapons training from his father, he joined the war effort and rumors have it that he was able to sneak into a highly classified Zebra facility and killed everyone of them inside without being seen. The twins are Hope and Faith Eternal, they were construction workers who helped build the tallest buildings in Hoofington before the war got really bad. When they joined up it was during an attack by Zebras against their town. Can't remember what the name of the town was but I heard that Hope picked up a power hammer from a dead Steel Ranger and began to go shit crazy on the zebras as her sister began to fire at the zebras with her duel pistols she got out of a broken gun store."

He points to his team and says, "I lost four of my team so far and they are all that is left. Avery Blade lived in a town called Ponyton when it was bombed by some dragons that were working with the Zebras. A piece of a building fell onto her and broke her wings beyond repair but using what they could, a group of doctors gave her those metal wings to let her fly again. Using Her new wings and hatred for the zebras, she joined into my squad after going into hoof to hoof combat with a set of swords put into her wings against a squad of zebras that had taken out her unit."

He motions to Small and says, "Small Fire lived with her parents during the beginning of the war but when her parents told the other dragons that they were not going to fight with the zebras, the other dragons killed them as Small flew to Equestria to warn us about it. She became a great spy for us for a while until she was discovered where upon she used her knowledge of traps to cause a cave in on top of a group of at least twenty dragons stupid enough to follow her. She joined up with my unit not long after and became a great asset to our team."

He gestures to Data and says, "Data Spark lived in Griffonstone when the Zebras began to come in and 'ask' for them to join in their war effort. Those that said no were later killed. Data Spark at the time during the death of his town was out at his hideout where he was crafting a piece of tech that supposedly was going to allow him to read someone's mind. It worked alright but a little too well as he entered the mind of one of the Zebras he saw walking past his place of hiding and learned everything they were going to do. Grabbing a set of guard gauntlets with claws he killed the guards on the road and entered Equestria to give what he had learned. I hear that the helmet he made was taken by the Ministry Mares and he can't remember how he made it."

He sighs and continues, "I myself was a cook before the war and everything else. I had a part time job working with Pinkie Pie in Sugarcube Corner and I had a part time job in Ponyville Express Delivery with Derpy. I was in a relationship with Derpy before the war and we had a thing going for a long time before the war hit. When war came I gave my goodbyes to Derpy, the crusaders, and Pinkie Pie. I began to fight with extreme prejudice against the zebras when one day on the front lines something happened. I was standing there eating my dried grass sandwich when who comes up to me other than Rainbow Dash. She talked to me for a while before telling me that she needed a group of stealthy and top secret operatives for special jobs under her command. With my help, she began to hire each of my group and the others to go behind zebra lines and get Intel on certain places so that the Shadowbolts could go in and take out the problem. My team and the others were sent in afterwards as a cleanup operation to kill any survivors and leave no trace of the Shadowbolts or us."

He smiles and looks at Sunset before ending his talk by saying, " We are the Shadow Guard, a specialized group of soldiers made for stealth operations by Rainbow Dash. Our motto is 'We are Death. Death leads to new roads of life, let ours make many brighter roads ahead.' This means that no matter what we try to make a better future even in our death to help the growth and happiness of Equestria. The only thing is that we never truly existed to the public or the other Ministries and never will. Only Rainbow knew about us since she specialized us in our fields of training and our missions and no pony can know we exist except those supporting us and our goals. We just came out of Cryo-stasis after 200 years of sleeping and waiting. We are here now and with a Base of Operations almost around the corner for us, we can begin to make Equestria great again."

Sunset looks at Silent with a speechless face for a bit before saying, "You all have had a hard life from going from happy to war...at least you didn't live during the wasteland from birth. You all would probably would have had it worse here. I should know since I grew up in a town far from here. The place was attacked by raiders and I was one of the few survivors that were taken by slavers. I was abused for a while by them and underfed before I got freed by a small group of friendly Steel Rangers who set me and the other slaves free. I went to a town and learned through time how to survive. I got hired by Bottle not long ago and was guarding him till we met you."

Silent smiles and says, "I am glad that you did join us. We are few and get fewer in time in this place. I have already lost four of my group and the others have lost one or two themselves due to bad cryo tubes. We are all that is left and have no support or munitions that are hidden for us. If we all fall than there is nothing left to help Equestria become itself again. We must survive and get more recruits to help us and yet we cannot come out from hiding."

Sunset looks to be thinking before she says, "I might know a few places that have ponies and others that may be willing to join but you have to word yourself carefully or they may take it wrong at first."

Silent nods and replies, "Anypony willing to help us is a start at least. So far we have nothing but enemies with numbers beyond our own."

Looking at the sky and thinking of how long he was talking he turns to Data and says, "Hey Data, time to change shift wake Zap and Avery."

Data nods and heads inside to wake them as Silent turns to Sunset and says, "Go on inside. Your gonna need your sleep for the walk tomorrow since once we get there we will need to fix it up into a proper defensive fortified area."

Sunset nods and heads inside as Silent follows behind, as he heads inside Zap and Avery walk out to take up their shift. Silent heads to a closet under a set of stairs and curls up in the lightly dusted area as he closes his eyes to rest. Today had been tiring and with how curious Sunset was...he was unsure if it was good or bad but they needed all the help they could get. What worried him was the lack of any danger on the way to their new base. What could be the reason that nopony or creature was out this way...it worried him to no degree.

Without knowing it, Silent was woken up by a nudge of a hoof, Opening his eyes he looks up to see the hoof belonged to Bubble Gum who was smiling at him. He groaned at this, he was not a morning pony and seeing someone smile so early...he hated it so much. He begins to stretch as he gets up. Small pops from his back can be heard as he looks about to everyone was beginning to dine on the MREs that they had. Standing up tall, Silent walks towards Zap and grabs a spare MRE to begin to eat as he asks, "Find anything on your Fried Apple?"

Zap shakes his head and says, "That's good at least. She must have left and gone to shelter before everything happened."

Silent nods and begins to eat in silence as he looks at the faded and broken walls around them. The red faded paint on the wooden and rotten boards seemed to make this place look worse than it was but by no means did he hate it. It meant that someone had once lived here and had taken care of this place like it was their own filly when they had lived here to last 200 years. He looks at the stairs that looked to have missing steps and a broken railing with a sad look at what work that had gone into this building wasting away with age and neglect. He finishes off the last of his powdered eggs as he stands and heads outside to see Small Fire and Faith on guard duty.

He looks at Faith and asks, "Any sign of creatures of other ponies?"

She shakes her head and says, "It's scary. It's so silent out here and makes it even more nerve racking. In the war silence meant bad things and yet here it is as if nothing ever lived out here. I have a bad feeling about this, sir."

Silent nods and says, "We are moving out and will be at the base in no time. I want you to tell everyone to be on guard and make sure that they all are ready to make a run for it in case of things going downhill."

She nods and heads inside as he looks out at the flat dead land and knew this was wrong. There was a reason the land was like this here and for not even a tree on an Apple farm made it even worse. This was a mystery that worried him cause for nothing from a rock to a tree not being here in this flat land near an apple farm was either a sign of something coming through that was monstrous or a sign of something godlike being nearby.

Turning to Small fire he says, "Make sure to keep your dragon fire grenades ready. I feel like whatever did this is going to come for us since we are in its territory. The reason I say this is because there was nothing on the floor in the house and not even a pebble out here. Whatever did this will be after us and we need to be ready."

She nods as she begins to reach into her bag and pulls out a set of five clear grenades with green and purple flames swirling inside it. She clips them onto her suit so if need be, she can pull them off and throw them without need to pull the pin off. She looks around with her keen eyes and waits as the other ponies come out one by one with their weapons ready just in case.

When everypony is outside Silent tells them, "Everyone keep your weapons ready and a keen eye. Something is out here and we are in its territory. If you see anything that is not a pony like us than kill it on sight without a care."

They nod as Silent begins to lead the way towards their new base. His eyes scan the way in front of him while the other groups keep an eye on the other areas. He knew something was here but he had no idea what it was since no creature he knew of could do this or would. For what felt like hours they continued at a steady and normal trot ahead towards their goal when they see something in the distance. He stops and as if he had given an order, all the others did so as well. He looks at Zap and points to him and forward with his hoof. Zap nods and looks towards one of his ponies with a sniper rifle and points to it and towards the speck in the distance with a hoof.

The pony nods and uses her horn to lift her sniper so she can look through it and towards what was out there. She seemed to stare for a bit before her look became shocked and she dropped her sniper to look to the side and throw up.

Silent was worried about this, since they had all scene horrible things before and were used to it, and asks, "What did you see?"

She stops and wipes her mouth before saying, "There is a group of what looked to be blobs of water but more solid eating...ponies. It was slowly dissolving them inside as they looked to be screaming. There is also a group of ponies fighting them with weapons but it seems to do nothing."

Silent says, "Buck me..." he seems to start thinking before saying, "We are going in. Use weapons on the creatures but be weary of the ponies. No guns though on those things but try fire grenades, flame throwers, and power hammers if possible. If you can't hurt the monsters try and help the ponies if they will allow it. Double time it teams."

HE begins to run straight out as the teams begin to head out with fliers a little over head of them as recon to tell the numbers. They trot out as best they can to reach where the fighting was going on as he says to Small Fire in a yell, "I want you to use those dragon fire grenades on the closest blob things and make sure that it works. If they are ineffective I want you to help gathering the survivors and fly towards our base. Data will open the door while me and some others hold the blobs off as best we can to buy you time."

Small fire nods as she splits off to the right as the others with flame like weapons head to her for the kill group. He looks to the fliers in the air including Avery and says, "Go fast ahead and find out if those ponies are friendly, I want you and the others to distract those things if they are friendly. If not then come back and we head straight to the base and use them as a distraction."

Avery nods as she flaps ahead with the other fliers and speed towards the battle field ahead that they can now hear explosions from and gunfire.

Silent keeps trotting at full speed as she Says to Data, "Go to the base with your tech friends and get us in but be careful. We have no clue if it is occupied or if the defenses are up so be on guard."

Data nods and grabs a few others to head towards the base on a wide arc from the fight to get there. Seeing that they were getting close he yells, "To war my brothers and sisters. We fight as one."

The ponies left with his scream for war as they charge into the fray of the fight. The blobs seemed to have gotten into a group and were trying to decimate the last of the survivors if not for the distractions by Avery Blade and the rest of the fliers that kept them from going back and forth so as to less damage to the survivors. Small Fire and her team got in close and began to throw grenades and spray fire onto the blobs as Avery and her team landed and began to get the survivors away from the fight while a few began to help Small Fire and her group by using bottles of alcohol and fire to burn the blobs.

Silent points to half of his group and says, "You lot go left and make sure that none of the monsters flank us over there. You other half go over there and do the same. We need to hold off or kill these things before heading to our base. If we can't kill them, hold them off as best you can so we can retreat to the base for safety."

Looking behind him he sees Avery and her group lifting up some of the survivors to fly out towards the base when he hears a scream behind him. Looking behind him he sees one of the survivor ponies had run out of fire and had been grabbed by a stray blob which had eaten him. Silent watched as the pony struggled as best they could to escape while his coat and skin began to dissolve before his eyes.

Silent wanting to have mercy on the poor soul lifts his carbine and shots the stallion in the head so he didn't have to die slowly. As his body went limp and dissolved into nothing, the blob began to grow a little bigger before a flamethrower burned it which cause it to shrink down a little with a hiss of steam and a gurgling scream from it.

Silent looks at Small Fire who was now flying over the blobs and dropping her dragon fire grenades into the biggest ones. It was almost like looking up a water balloon popping and turning into steam as they exploded from the condensed fire hitting them. The smaller ones began to back up slowly but a few had already fled as the rest died to the fire. When the fire ended and the blobs were either fled or dead, Silent turned to see how bad it had been. His count before this had gone so bad was 33 in the Shadow Guard not including Sunset. he counted again and found he had lost two more of his troops because of the blobs. He looked at the survivors and four out of what he had seen only 5 were left that had stayed to help.

The survivors seemed to be hugging each other and were happy at surviving while Silent and the others found what they could of their dead and say their oath.

Silent turns to Zap and says, "Get somepony to grab our dead for burial at the base. Also give me their tags so I can make a memorial for them later. I need to talk to these survivors."

Zap nods and does as ordered as some of the troops head towards the base to help support those there in case there were blobs. Silent goes to the survivors and asks, "Who's in charge here?"

They stop hugging and look between each other before one says, "That would be me sir."

Silent looks at the green coated and blue maned young unicorn stallion and feels a little unsure of this before saying, "My name is Silent and I am in charge of this band of soldiers. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The stallion looks at Silent before saying, "I am Arrow Head and I am in charge of this hunting group. We were hired for a job to hunt down a monster that had eaten a whole town to the east of here near the mountains. When we arrived we found those blobs and tried to hold them off or kill them only to have it go bad for us. It seems we were not ready for a hunt like this and I lost more than half my hunting group and gear. Thanks for the assist."

Silent nods and replies, "If you will come with me and my troops we can escort you to the rest of your group but I will need to talk to you in private after words."

The stallion nods and says, "Sure thing but I am gonna need to ask you stuff as well. I don't trust you too much but I owe you for saving my mane as well as my groups. D...did you lose anyone in the fight?"

Silent holds up two dog tags and says, "I lost two of my soldiers. They will be missed. What about you?"

Arrow looked down and says, "I lost about twelve of my group. I don't know if we lost more until I found out who survived. Also thanks for letting Black hoof from dying slowly. I saw that you shot him so he didn't suffer."

Silent nods before getting everyone together and heading towards their new base. He had lost two more to save a bunch of strangers and he hated it. There was nopony that could replace them and he knew it but if possible he might be able to get these ponies to help if slightly. Maybe a few would be able to join and raise their numbers again but...that was a very small chance. He sighed as he walks until they see the sight of the rest of the group and survivors gathered around what looked like an entrance of a mine that was built into the mountain. Silent notices that they are all waiting patiently as Data Spark seems to be unhappy as he tries to open the lock of the metal doors.

Silent walks up to Data and asks, "How is it going? Any luck getting the entrance open?"

Data growls a little as he says, "They got better security here than I have ever dealt with before. I am about to get it I think."

With those words and another tap of his claw on the screen the doors open with a hiss and Silent says, "Okay Zap, I'm gonna need Black Berry go inside first for any mines and robots to reprogram. Data you get onto hacking the turrets and make sure we have access to all the building through my magic signature."

They nod and Silent watches as Black Berry heads inside with Zap and Data to do their jobs. Silent turns to the survivors and says, "Arrow I would like to talk in private now."

Silent walked a little bit away from the others as Arrow followed him before saying, "I have a proposition for you and your group. I need information of the outside world and recruits but I have unfortunately no idea about what I will deal with from locales so I would like to help train, arm, and pay you and yours for this task."

Arrow raises and eyebrow and asks, "Why would you need us? You and your group seem good enough to do it let alone fight anything. Not that I am saying no."

Silent sighs and says, "If you accept the job I can tell you why but as of right now let's just say I need ponies and others who know the area, the ponies, and the dangers to help us. We are too few and we can't be known by the public."

Arrow nods and replies, "I can do it but I will discuss it with the others before they either agree or don't. I think from your actions yet alone your group itself show high talent and a degree of honor in your fighting. I would see it as a side job from what I already do but we will need more supplies in the long run."

Silent smiles and says, "Already taken care of. I got a caravan trader who is giving the route to this place to some trustworthy ponies who will not betray us to any bad ponies. With your group, we can also get more trained soldier to go out and help clear the wasteland of anything like those monsters you fought."

Arrow nods thoughtfully before relying, "Sounds like an idea. What about weapons and gear we find in the field? Do we sell them or keep them to bring back?"

Silent thinks a little before saying, "Gear that would be taken by Steel Rangers should be brought to us so we can fix and modify them to become better. Anything else is up to you and your decisions. Also we will need Intel on areas from raider positions, numbers of ghouls, and all the way to looting availability. The reason is because we want to make sure everyone of us lives for another day and to restore this wasteland to a proper home."

Arrow nods and says, "It's a deal than. Should me and my group head our or stay?"

Silent points to the door and says, "We will all head inside. Not that I am saying your group is bad but they could do better. Your group is varied and we need you all to live to come back because one day be it either the Steel Rangers, raiders, or slavers, they will come and they will try to wipe us out. We need numbers and weapons that what we currently have, will not do for that fight."

He then whispers low for Arrow to only hear in case somepony had sharp ears, "We also want any powerful magical artifacts or Megaspells brought here for safe keeping. I do not want another event to happen where Equestria becomes worse than it already is. I have some documents with where some of these are but I will need you and some of my groups to head out for these places and get them before any other pony does. Also be careful of the Alicorns because they know we are threats now more than before and they will come for us if they find where we are."

Arrow nods and heads back to his group as Silent heads back to the door and sits on his haunches as he waits for those who went inside to come out. Things were starting to get better and all it would take was a few more groups like Arrow's group to make their operations easier and fit for actual combating situations across all of Equestria. Right now they could possibly watch over Ponyville, Canterlot, New Pegasus, Hope, Vaults in the area, and additional small towns within that limited range for now.

Looking at his Pipbuck, Silent sees that on his map they were at the edge of the mountain range and near the far left of them from Ponyville. He needed to send out scouts to each area on his map of a town but it would be hard with so few to do with. He knew that Ponyville was empty but from what he read, in Ponyville was a stable for applejack and the town so he would send team War to look for it and keep eyes to find if it still worked. To the South was New Pegasus which he would send Arrow's team to for Intel and recruiting if possible. Canterlot to the North-east would be for Plague since they had the best experience with the pink cloud and other gases. Hope could be looked at by Hunger to see if anypony was there and watch if there was.

He looks at the base and knows that Void and Havoc would need to stay and help clean the base and set up the defenses while the rest of his team would train Arrow's team before sending them to New Pegasus. Hopefully the mines, robots, turrets, and security locks all worked to add to their defenses here at the base just in case there is an attack. The problem was that the mines would have to be outside and that there would need to be signs set out to tell that mines were here. He would also need two look outs at all times and sandbags set up in front of the door, inside in set positions, and reinforce the robots for bullet resistance.

He sighs at how much work he would have to do before they could focus directly on full on Equestrian tactics across the wasteland. He looks at his worn out hooves before looking up as the three ponies who went in come out with smiles.

Zap says with a happy look on his face, "Silent we hit the jack pot. There is no way we will ever need to leave this base if things went bad. We got rooms for at least one hundred ponies, a kitchen, a never ending dragon fire generator, food for one hundred ponies for probably half a year, enough explosives to take out this whole place, a bunch of robots of various kinds, best of all a full armory that was not touched including power armor, and a command center with computers."

Silent smiles and says, "Okay everyone, let's go inside and grab your bunks cause we got a lot of cleaning, changing of defenses, and planning ahead of us."

Silent head inside and sees a terminal on the inside of the door which has been hacked and the new password was on the screen. He waits till everyone was inside before sealing the entrance so nothing could follow them inside. He then heads forward and sees that it splits right and left. He heads to the left and keeps going down the hall till he finds he has come upon the armory with a door leading to the right. Going to the door and heading down the hall, Silent sees that he has come upon the operations center which was full of maps screens and a table in the middle with a magical field showing real time footage of the land.

Standing at the table and waiting for everyone to gather, Silent than speaks, "Okay everyone. We are going to have groups to head certain areas and do certain tasks. First off will be Ponyville where a Stable is located yet we left alone. I need Team War to head there and make sure it is still working and get the codes for entry at a later time. Your also going in as scouts to see if the town gets more raiders or if it is just left alone"

Team War nods as they get ready to go on with their task as Silent continues, "Arrow and your team will be trained by the rest of my team until you are ready to go to New Pegasus. We need Intel on what that place is like at the moment, whom is in charge, etc. We also are going to need new recruits to join up with us but you will need to be discreet. Look for anypony or nopony that is willing to fight to help ponies but are not essential to the town. We don't want a town dying cause we took someone who was in charge after all."

The rest of Death team and Arrow's team leave to go begin training as the rest take up there spaces as Silent begins to finish, "Plague team is going to Canterlot for info gathering and to see if the stable there survived but be careful. I hear it is run by ghouls. Hunger team gets to go to the town of Hope to scout out. See if it has anypony and if Arrow's team can help out any in the long run."

Hunger and Plague teams both nod before they turn to leave to do their tasks as the last teams are talked to by Silent.

"Okay you guys, We need to modify these fortifications and make them better in case of a fight. I want Mines set at random places and not a set pattern with 15 feet apart across our perimeter with one clear path that can be led in by markers. We need sandbags at the front door and at point throughout our inside set up and ready at all times. The turrets and robots need to be reinforced and set to fire on anything that comes in after activated. Finally I saw that we have Mana-cord, Magibards, and telecubes in the armory. I want each team to have some Mana cord and telecubes on hand in case of trouble. Set the Magibards out at set placements every fifty steps from the entrance and buried to activate on a switch. We also need two placements for sniper nests in the side of the mountain above our entrance with a way to get up and down that's movable."

They nod as they begin to gather what they will need to head out and do each task that they can do with ease themselves. He sighs as he looks at the real time maps before adding each place onto the map of every Ministry Mare Emergency Bunker, Stable, Locations of each Megaspell and Dangerous Artifact, and finally places that each Ministry Mare was last seen before things turned to shit because of the Megaspells.

He looks at the interior design of the bunker here and sees that rooms were on the first floor and second. The armory had a list of weapons of various kinds, armor, and explosives. The Operations Center had a radio, map, computers which were connected to all important hubs of the Ministry Mares and other high ranking officers, and finally a speaker system that talked to all of the bunker. The second floor had nothing but rooms while the basement had the Dragon fire Reactor and a secondary reactor which ran off of four Magi cores in case the big one went. The dining hall was also in the basement on his map and it seemed this place had been made under some very dense rock that kept out radiation just like the doors. It also had a water system that went to a water recycle plant below this all that kept radiation out of the water supply and cleaned all under water rivers that is brought in.

He smiles at seeing how this place was made to last and survive anything except food shortage. He began to think about this as his hooves went onto the table and began to zoom and distance the map as he looked at the closest towns. Each one seemed to be in ruins but ponies lived there as if it was everyday for them. They must have spare food that they can spare for all of his group can buy off of them. He looked at the radio system and wondered if there was a way to contact any pony from here but didn't want to risk it. Looking back at the map he looked at what was Ponyville and zoomed it by tapping it with his hoof. Zooming in he saw that Raiders had already moved back in and seemed unhappy with their crew being killed. He looks the town over to plan how the team set up there would go about their mission when he notices something and taps his hoof to the side of the map right over the top of Applejack's farm where he sees a Pony walking around in a vault suit.

"Well...I'll be a dragon's elder. I wonder who this pony is." states Silent as he zooms in on the pony.

The pony seemed to be a unicorn mare who seemed smaller than the average pony. She had a pipbuck on her front right hoof over the leg of her blue and yellow Stable 2 suit and set of saddle bags on her back. Her coat was a light grey in his opinion with a light brown mane. She seemed to be heading right for the raiders in town and he decided to tag her on the screen to see if maybe he could get a team to contact her later.

Zooming back out on the map he looked about on it at places that he would send his teams next when he remembered that he needed to find out if anypony out there was still in charge. He looked over at the computer and sighed. He hated computers but it was always a good idea to check them in case there was something on there that was important.

He began to Log in on the computer as he made sure to put in his log in and security pass which allowed him access to the computer where...a message to him sat?

He felt a little confused that message for him was on there in a place that he should not have access to unless...Rainbow Dash! She must have know he would come here as a safe haven since she taught him everything he needed to know about being a leader of Shadow Guard.

He opens the message and begins to read it:

Message Received: 125 years 84 days 3 hours 29 minutes ago

Message Start

Hello Silent Shot,

I knew you would receive this message since you were always the best soldier I had under my command. I am sorry to say but things have gotten really bad since you went into cryo sleep under my order all those years ago. I had a feeling that you would get here and made sure that I had you set up as the new leader of the Ministry of War since Applejack is dead. I am still alive but not as much as you would hope. I couldn't stay up above the clouds and let ponies down here die without helping. I came down and tried to help and unfortunately I became a ghoul.

I have a signal code for you to contact me on (radio signal 84.4) and I will help out as best I can but I have begun to get busy on things and can't promise to much for you. Do what you do best my friend and make sure to save Equestria from this ruin is has become. Once you contact me I will send some support robots with supplies to help you out in defending that base but I fear that they be followed so be ready. Things have gotten bad with our soldiers these days and will be worse when you wake. The Steel Rangers take technology and hoard it like the dragons from our time but kill anypony that gets in their way without a care. The Enclave above the clouds are just as bad but the problem which I am trying to stop is hard, they want to kill everypony below them and make war with us to wipe us all out. I am stalling them and hope to stop it with a distraction of sorts for now but when you awake it will be worse I bet.

I found out that all the others are dead...I'm the only Ministry Mare alive and yet you and I both know they can't get their hooves on the projects you and I both know about. Gather everything and make sure there is no trace of any Megaspells and Artifacts. I have a few in possession at this time and have stored most of them but an emergency few at these coordinates (please click to download coordinates) near Hope. I am putting everything in your hooves until we talk...if I still live.

This is Rainbow Dash, Ministry Mare of Awesome

PS. I am still and always will be 20% cooler than you even as a ghoul

End Message

He smiles as he plugs in his pipbuck and clicks the download that he would send to Hunger team when they arrived at Hope.

He goes over to the radio and looks at it with hope and regret. Should he really activate it and try to contact her... what if she was dead and he was unable to contact her or if it was all a trap. He wanted to do something but he was unsure if he should since there was so much that could go wrong by giving away the position of him and the Operations Base he was in.

With a gulp and a look of uncertainty he lifted a hoof and turned on the radio before changing the frequency to 84.4 which he begins to talk into on the radio, "This is the Silent Shadow calling out the Dashing Rainbow. Dashing Rainbow please respond."

He listens to static for a second and then another and another. She wasn't there and he had tried. He reaches a hoof to turn it off when he heard that tomboyish and yet rough voice of his boss.

"What is it with you and code talk all the time Silent. I swear you make this feel like one of those Spy Romance movies that Rarity watches." states Rainbow Dash over the speakers.

Silent smiles as a tear goes down his furry cheek and he says, "Tartarus swallow you, you mare with nine lives. I missed you and was scared you were dead."

He hears laughter from the other end and the sound of light coughing before she responds, "Don't make me laugh Silent. I am way too old to laugh like that these days." she is silent for a bit before asking, "How many made it, Silent? How many of my old friends still live?"

He is silent for a few seconds before saying, "We are down to thirty one soldiers but we just recruited another fourteen to help us. We also have traders that will be working for us with escorts in order to get addition weapons, armor, and Intel."

He knew she was nodding with her wings tapping the bottom of her muzzle before she replies, "That's good to hear...what happened to the ones who died?"

Silent begins to frown as he looks at all seventeen pony tags he had to put on a wall before he says, "Fourteen died by cryo stasis accidents, two died by some kind of blue blob like monsters that dissolved them, and B...blood splatter was torn apart by an Alicorn."

He hears a yell and banging which probably involved her throwing metal at something that she took her anger out on before she finally calmed down and says, "Those damn Alicorns made by Twilight have been causing problems everywhere. You want to stay away from them or get a sneak attack on them. When they die, they stay dead thank Celestia. I have already lost enough of my own troops as well as outcasts to make me want to kill myself many times over. Those Alicorns are tough as Tartarus but they are limited in numbers so long as they can't turn that machine of theirs on. I have a few contacts which can support you at this time but right now they are busy."

Silent than speaks up and asks, "Any idea about those robots with supplies you talked about in your message?"

She is silent for a second before responding as she says, "I will be sending those in no time at all but remember my warning about keeping an eye out because I have a feeling that somepony in charge of the Enclave is keeping an eye out and they know I exist. If they send anypony to follow those supplies I want you set up and leave no survivors because they will be his most trusted killing team. They are loyal and will try to get on your side to give the pony details. The only reason I know is because I have had to relocate three times since they found where I lived and they lie better than a dragon."

Silent responds by saying, "I will be sure to kill them all and make sure that there is no way for them to be tracked here. I got a couple of teams on standby that can take care of the problem as soon as they appear."

Suddenly a voice pipes up and says, "Hello Rainbow Dash and Silent Shot, been a while since last I saw either of you."

I hear a gasp and was thinking of Rainbow holding her barrel as if ready to die as she gasps out, "Spike? How are you alive?"

Spike chuckles and replies, "Dragons live a long time Rainbow and unfortunately it is not just you that is being attacked by the Enclave. I have been attacked plenty as well since they are after what I am protecting. They might try and use me as the next attack on the Enclave if they keep this up and get me to come out of my cave."

Silent sighs and says, "Send me what you got Rainbow and keep safe. Spike I think there is a pony out in the wasteland that might be someone for you to contact."

He hears Spike hmm to himself before asking, "Who might this pony be?"

Silent describes to Spike the pony he saw on his map before a gunshot is heard from down the hall and Silent says, "I got to go. It seems that something is happening and I may be needed."

He leaves as fast as he can run from the room as on the radio Spike says to Rainbow, "I hope this all goes good. He might be what I will need for Honesty to work."

Rainbow gasps and asks, "You mean..."

He interrupts and replies, "Yes. It's ready and waiting for them to come."

Shadow Guard Squad - Death

Level up

New Perks added - Base of Operations

Base of Operations - With a base of operations comes with many forms of assistance and a place to take cover if things go bad. While in your base of operations get additional defense, health, and dmg up to 50% per five allies defending

Shadow Guard Squad - War, Plague, Hunger, Void, and Havoc

Level up

New Perk added - Higher Orders

Higher Orders - with someone in charge of the group you get orders which help you towards your goals, Get an extra 5 points in Local Intel do to orders from your leader on any mission he/she orders.


End file.
